The Case Of The Missing Blue Diamond
by tiramisuspice
Summary: A missing diamond. Four suspects. Who stole it?
1. The Case Of The Missing Blue Diamond

**A WhoDunIt GMW Mystery AU Story!  
**

 **Here's how it'll work: you get the case, you get the suspects, you get their sides of the story, you get to guess the perpetrator after the next four chapters! The winner(s) will get a batch of my signature cyber honey walnut cookies fresh out of the cyber oven! Interested? Then read on for fun times!  
**

 **Rated K+ for Kleptomania**

 **Enjoy all of you lovely, lovely people of the GMW fandom!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but damn these characters are so much fun to play with! ^_^**

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Detective Lucas Friar of the FBI sighed tiredly as he swiped his ID card in the employee elevator before pushing his floor. He leaned back against the wall, checking the watch on his wrist for the near thirtieth time as he waited for the lift to bring him up to the fifth level. It was just about seven in the morning, and he was exhausted out of his mind.

Sure, it wasn't uncommon for him to have to wake up at ungodly hours of the morning for work related emergencies or cases, but he had just closed out a pretty intense case the night before, and he'd barely gotten any sleep. He'd been called into work by his agency captain, Harper Burgess, about a pressing case she wanted him on and so, after hopping into his bed and getting about fifteen minutes of shut eye, he'd had to hop right out, slip on some clothes, splash water on his face, and race back over to work. He hadn't had the chance to shave yet and was sporting his five o'clock shadow, and he was sure he would be binging coffee for the rest of the day.

The elevator opened up on his floor, and he stepped out, walking down the hallway towards the desks further in. As expected, there weren't that many people in yet. Captain Burgess was standing next to the coffee table in the break room, and Lucas made a beeline for the room, opting to figure out why she wanted him back in the office as soon as possible.

"Captain. You ordered me in?" he greeted, arms crossed in front of his chest and a frown etched on his face.

His short boss barely spared him a glance, continuing to pour some of the coffee from the finished pot into a mug.

"There was a robbery about a week ago. I need you on this case since you've put away a good number of jewel thieves."

Lucas' eyes narrowed in irritation. "And you couldn't find someone else to handle the case? You know, who hasn't been working forty-five days nonstop? Oh wait, make that _forty-six_."

Harper straightened with the mug in her hand, turning to face him with a sardonic look of amusement on her face.

"No." she said simply, before walking over to him and shoving the mug roughly in his hands, "Drink up. Go find Minkus with the case details. I want this solved today, and you're my best man for this job. And don't get a big head Friar; I'm just stating facts. You usually solve these pretty fast."

He let out an annoyed sigh, but took a sip anyway. It was scalding, black, and bitter and almost exactly what Lucas needed to kickstart his lethargic mind. Thank goodness his captain knew her agents inside out.

"Can you do that for me?" she questioned him with a raised brow, "Solve it in one day? We're on a time crunch for this one."

"I can try."

"Atta boy Friar." She snorted derisively before sauntering out of the break room back towards her office, nodding in greeting to another detective who had shown up. "I'm counting on you."

Lucas growled under his breath before leaving the break room and heading over to his friend's desk. Farkle was leaning over his desk, gathering up a handful of documents for a file.

"So what's going on Farkle?"

The brunet straightened and flipped through the handful of papers in his hand.

"Greenwich Village Museum of Historical Antiquities. Case of a missing rare Blue Diamond. The first day of the exhibit exactly one week ago, it was stolen. We've been working to find it since. Here's the case file."

Farkle handed him one of the five files he had in his hand. Lucas took it, flipping it open to skim the quick details as he sipped on his coffee.

The Blue Diamond, a rare and high profile diamond unearthed about three months ago in the ruins of an abandoned frontier mine in Arizona. The week prior, it was shipped to the Greenwich Village Museum for the opening of an exhibit.

The diamond arrived at the museum at 8:15 sharp in the morning. It was settled in its exhibit case by 8:30; the museum opened at 9:00 AM to several spectators interested in seeing the rare beauty. At the museum's closing at 7:30 in the evening, it was still in its case. Every visitor in the museum was gone by 7:45 on the dot. At final rounds by the museum director at 8 PM, the diamond was still in its case. At 8:55, the alarm was accidentally tripped. For five minutes, due to the old circuit system of the museum, the security cameras as well as alarms all temporarily cut off before resetting at 9:00. When the alarm was rebooted, rounds were continued. The director stated the real diamond was still in its case.

Around 9:05 PM, the rounds were officially finished up. The guard cop was changed out with another officer. At 9:24, seven specific cameras that all faced the diamond all experienced small glitches before the image settled. At 10:00, the officers were switched out once again. At 10:45, the new officer did his rounds to make sure everything was in order, walked by the exhibit, saw the open case and the diamond and called the director of the museum, Madeleine Porter. She arrived around 10:56 and observed the diamond before confirming the diamond was a fake and immediately calling authorities. The rest was history.

The reported time of theft was believed to be between 9:00 and 10:38 PM.

Lucas groaned under his breath, handing Farkle the file. That was too large a margin of time for the crime. One hour and thirty-eight minutes of possible theft? He had his work cut out for him.

"What did the footage from the cameras show?" Lucas asked, taking a large gulp of his coffee to try to wake himself up a bit more.

"Absolutely nothing. There was no change in any of the seven screens that panned the Blue Diamond." Farkle said with a shrug, "Well, except for the small glitch at 9:24 that froze the screens. They didn't pick up any new footage until around 10:30. Other than that, the cameras are unreliable. They're suspected to have been bugged, although when checked by tech specialists, there was no residue of a lingering program. No system overrides, no fraying of the circuitry. Nothing."

"So it really could have been a glitch in the system?"

"It is a little bit strange that only the seven cameras facing the Blue Diamond exhibit glitched, but honestly, no one knows as of now. So our only sources for this case were Director Porter and all the cops." Farkle continued, "Porter let us know that she kept one cop, a trusted family friend, to keep an eye on the diamond all throughout the exhibit. And after she had left at 9:00 with her personnel and after his shift was completed, all cops were to be switched out every hour or so."

"Every hour?" Lucas' brows furrowed. "That's a little excessive."

"This was in order to not give any one cop on the floor of the Blue Diamond exhibit enough time alone with it." Farkle shrugged, "Porter's a pretty paranoid person. She didn't want it stolen no matter what."

Lucas nodded, taking another sip of his coffee. "Okay. So who was the officer who discovered the open case?"

"Officer Finley North. Shift from ten to eleven."

"Has he been questioned?"

Farkle nodded, skimming through another page of the file. "His alibi checks out. No problems whatsoever. Came to do his duty, switched with the previous officer, checked the cameras in the security room, later did rounds. All footage supports his alibi."

Farkle flipped to another page. "So we questioned Officer Dana Ferry who was listed to have had the nine to ten shift. But she told us she wasn't due to work that day because she was on vacation in Tahiti. She notified the director a month ago. That's been confirmed by Porter, her cop station, her family, the airport, the resort in Tahiti. Everything checks out. Dana Ferry wasn't in New York at the time of the robbery."

"If Ferry wasn't in that night, why was she suspected?"

"Because the trusted guard cop of Director Porter, Officer Nikolas McMillan, said he saw her and spoke to her. Officer North as well. They both claimed to have spoken to her."

Lucas finished off his coffee and rubbed his temples. This was starting to sound like one big headache.

"Okay." Lucas said, "So what about McMillan? Was he questioned?"

"He was. His alibi checks out too. Once Dana took over, he went back to the station to finish out his evening shift before he headed back home to his wife at midnight. It's been confirmed by many of his colleagues and his captain at the station. He was at the station at the time of the crime."

"So we've got no leads, two officers claiming a fellow officer who wasn't there _was_ there, and a missing diamond." Lucas grumbled, setting the mug on his own desk across from Farkle's. "Great case."

"Actually, we _do_ have a lead." Farkle said with a smile, cocking his head towards the direction of the hallway that led to the interrogation rooms. Lucas followed him as he walked there. "Officer McMillan has an incredible memory, which is why Porter kept him as the main guard for the entire exhibit during the day. He says he remembers every face that walked by the diamond and everyone who had particularly suspicious behaviours regarding it."

"Now we're getting somewhere." Lucas said, a small smirk on his face.

Farkle brought them around the corner before they stopped in front of a television screen attached to the upper corner of the ceiling. The television was broadcasting the interior of four interrogation rooms.

"Four women in particular struck McMillan as suspect in association with the jewel." He pointed to the screen where four different women were sitting in different interrogation rooms, waiting to be addressed. "And there they are. Ready for your interrogation."

Lucas stared at the four people on the screen. There was a long haired brunette fidgeting uncomfortably, looking very nervous and very scared. A girl with a brown bob looking bored out of her mind and picking at her fingernails. A blonde with her feet on the table flipping off the camera with both hands. A girl wearing glasses sitting ramrod straight, her chin held high.

"Guess I'll get to work then." Lucas said, cracking his neck.

The interrogation was his favourite part of the job and definitely a great payoff for difficult cases. Rarely was anyone able to slip past his fingers or baffle him. He would figure this out easy enough.

"Who first?" Farkle asked.

Lucas narrowed his eyes as he looked at the screen.

The blonde had a smirk on her face and probably would be hella annoying to work with this early in the morning. The nervous girl was an easy choice; she looked like she would squeal any second. The one with the glasses looked furious and probably would kill his ears.

He'd go with the aloof one.

"Brunette. Short bob."

Farkle handed him a file after checking it quickly, a small smile on his face.

"Good luck."


	2. Missy Bradford: The Perfectionist

**Okay... Sorry if I've seemed a little withdrawn recently...Things are kind of hectic for me so I'm finding it hard to find effort and time to write. I honestly hope I haven't offended anyone because speaking to all of you guys always brings me happiness, so please don't take it personally if I don't answer as soon as possible. I'm a little drained. But I promise I'll try to bounce back asap! Thank you for all your patience. It means a lot.  
**

 **SO HERE WE GO: SUSPECT NUMBER 1.**

 **Thank you for the reviews wonderful people! I hope this will be a fun and enjoyable story! I love you :3  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but damn these characters are so much fun to play with! ^_^**

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 _Missy Bradford; 26; works for the entertainment and city life sections of The Vendetta, one of the most prestigious magazines in the entire city. A true alpha human being. Life completely put together and planned out to a T. Fiercely independent. No red in her ledger. Can easily learn and gain skills in complicated things like instruments, dancing and sports due to her eidetic memory. Stated that she doesn't make mistakes. Perfectionist extraordinaire. Perfect record, perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect life, everything perfect. Maybe almost too perfect…?_

Lucas walked into the interrogation room after reading Officer McMillan's jotted notes from his questioning.

"Missy Bradford. I'm Detective Lucas Friar."

She narrowed her eyes at him, looking extremely irate. " _Finally_ someone comes in after forcing me to sit in this room for hours. I have a job, you know? One that I need to be going to so if you could just let me go, that would be great."

"As much as I'd love to," Lucas drawled, "Can't do that. You're a suspect in the theft of the Blue Diamond."

Missy pursed her lips in annoyance. "So I've been told by that other bumbling cop who questioned me. Why am I even a suspect? I didn't do anything that could merit that sort of suspicion."

"So it would seem…" Lucas flipped open her file and took a seat in the chair across from her. "It says here in your file that you spend a lot of time at the Greenwich Village Museum of Historical Antiquities. That you know it very well."

"I write articles on the cheap or new and fun attractions to visit in the city. Including the museum. So every time there's an exhibit, I have to be there and know it like the back of my hand. So duh, I spend a lot of time there." she sassed.

Lucas felt his irritation spike at her attitude and mentally sighed, wondering if he had made the right choice in who to question first. She was clearly a priss and honestly, he wasn't sure if he had the mental capacity to deal with someone like that this early.

"Okay." He flipped a page. "Your file states that you entered the museum around 1:28 PM and headed to the Blue Diamond exhibit. You took a tour at 1:30."

"That's right."

"Then after the tour, apparently you walked through every floor of every exhibit, always coming back to the diamond when you were done. You came back to the diamond at least ten times. All while jotting notes and slowly pacing in front of the diamond. Officer McMillan stated you went to the bathroom around 2:23 and when you returned you came back to the diamond, scrutinizing it until you left the exhibit around 2:40. That's highly suspicious."

"I'm a _journalist_? I was writing an article on the diamond." She rolled her eyes as if it should have been obvious. "It's my job to write good stories—the best stories about the city—to keep The Vendetta as the number one most interesting journal in the city. Once a story hits, I grab it no matter what cost. And I only had one day to get all the info I needed so we could publish the story on the diamond in our weekly magazine. The article turned out quite well if I do say so myself. Besides, what else was I supposed to do? The tour guide went on break at 2:00 so it wasn't like I was going to wait an indefinite amount of time for her to come back for another guided tour. I had to get back to the office and just because I had to go to the exhibit didn't mean I didn't have work that day. My work day ends at 8:00. So I grabbed a bite at a café after I left the exhibit and headed to the office."

"How did you come to know about the Blue Diamond?"

"Director Madeleine Porter contacted The Vendetta three months ago about the incoming exhibit when the stone was discovered in the ruins of the mine in order to publicize the stone when the time came. So my boss put me on the job to write a series of small articles in conjunction with Porter leading up to the exhibit to get people interested and excited. And then one big article once the exhibit came out."

"I see." Lucas replied, "So why did you leave from the front of the diamond so many times? And what was up with your pacing?"

"There's a reason why I'm the current number one journalist in the city, detective. I'm _very_ thorough and detail oriented. It helps that I have photographic memory. If I'm going to write about the experience seeing the diamond to intrigue the general public into coming to the exhibit, it has to be thorough, right?" Missy explained. "Every moment, every step, the path I took, how I got to the diamond, everything seen from the moment I walk through the door to the moment I leave. It has to be documented perfectly so that these magazine readers can visualize it and want to experience it themselves."

She did have a point.

"And the other floors and exhibits?" Lucas questioned, tapping his pen against the table. "Why was that necessary if you were writing an article on the Blue Diamond?"

"C'mon. Even you can figure that out on your own." Missy scoffed. "Obviously, if I'm going to talk about the museum itself, I need a few highlights of the other exhibits, hence, checking out other ones so people know what kinds of things to expect at the museum and get them wanting to see other things as well. Plus, a couple quick articles on the other exhibits don't hurt anyone. If my boss chooses not to publish my extra work, she doesn't."

"But your whole 'leave the Blue Diamond, go to all the exhibits on other higher floors, come back to the Blue Diamond thing' happened multiple times. Explain that."

"I get bored easily. I like to be occupied at all times. I like challenges. Shake things up a bit. I flipped between exhibits as I wrote about them because working on only one thing at once is _so_ boring. But if I have my hands full and more to do, it's a little more exciting."

Lucas read through some more of the file.

"Alright. Now, it says here you were sighted in front of the museum talking on your cellphone and pacing from about 1:15 to 1:28 before your entrance into the museum. Why the phone call?"

"My boyfriend Harvey called me, thank you very much." Missy picked at her fingernails, giving Lucas a cross look. "He got back from a business trip but was going to leave the next day. We made plans to go out after I got finished writing my articles in the evening."

"The ticket box clerk stated that you were speaking animatedly into the phone. Care to explain?"

"He wanted to go to some fancy restaurant. But after a day I knew would be hectic, I just wanted to chill at the bar and get wasted. So I told him to meet me there once I was done with all my work. Then later head back to my apartment to finish out our date the best we know how. So I convinced him to change our plans."

"That so?"

"It is so. I'm sure you and your men can go track my conversation and listen to it, if you want to. Just warning you though, the end of our conversation was not suitable for work." Missy said with a smirk.

"I'll have someone get on that." Lucas said, "So then. Let's cut to the chase. You stated to Officer McMillan that you left Vendetta's office building at 8:00 PM after discussing with your boss what she expected in the article. Where were you the remainder of the night?"

"Well, like I already told him, after I left my office at 8:00, I went back to my apartment to finish up my article for the Blue Diamond exhibit. I worked on it until around 10:05 ish and then sent the first draft to my boss for initial review and editing." Missy said in boredom, checking out her fingernail polish. "After which I spent the rest of my time getting ready for my date. And then at 10:30, I left my apartment. Got to the bar at 11:00."

"So you say." Lucas rose a brow. "Is there anyone that can confirm your alibi? Anyone who can confirm you were in your apartment?"

Missy scoffed incredulously, "Are you calling me a liar?"

"It's just protocol, ma'am. I can't just take your word for it." Lucas responded automatically, already preparing himself for a verbal assault of some sort. The prissy types always had them.

"Well I'm not lying." Missy sighed in annoyance, scraping off a part of the nail polish with her thumb. "I was in my apartment until 10:30."

"But no one else can prove that you were in your apartment?" He pressed. "Did anyone actually _see_ you in your apartment from the time you left your office to your date?"

"Look." She snapped, chewing on her thumbnail with a fierce glare in Lucas' direction. "While it may be true that no one saw me, I am _not_ lying. I was in my apartment the whole time, and I was writing. When would I even have time to try to steal a diamond if I was writing a long article? I sent the draft to my boss. You can contact her for the time stamp and see just how long that draft was. That kind of work takes a lot of time to write."

"Thanks for letting me know. But unless you can prove you were in your apartment, your alibi cannot be confirmed."

"Urgh. You detectives are all so damn annoying." She tossed her hair over her shoulder with a roll of her eyes. "What good would stealing a diamond do? I don't need one. My life is already perfect."

"I'm sure, ma'am. One last question: you do a lot of research, yeah?"

"Yes…" she said, her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she stared at him.

"Extensive research if you're trying to figure something out? Extensive observation?"

"Yeah…? Where are you going with this?"

"Nothing in particular." Lucas closed her file and stood up. "I think that's enough questioning for now."

"So can I leave then?"

"Not yet. But if you're as innocent as you say you are, then you shouldn't be kept here past the afternoon."

" _The_ _afternoon_?" She cried indignantly, "That is so not fair. I didn't do it, and yet I'm missing work because one stupid cop said I was being suspicious when I was doing _my job_. If I get fired because of this, I'm suing you and that Officer McMillan chump."

"I'm quaking in my boots here." He drawled. "Thank you for your cooperation. We'll let you know whether you're free to go when we're done with our investigation."

She growled under her breath in annoyance as Lucas left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"Got all of that?" he asked Farkle.

Farkle nodded, taking the file back from Lucas. "Every word."

"Good. Get someone to verify her phone call and the time stamp of the article to confirm at least a few of her claims. They could come in handy."

"So what do you think? Anything suspicious?"

"Missy's eidetic memory. If she observes something, she'll remember it. And seeing as how she spends a lot of time at the museum, then she's probably learned a lot about the museum over time. And my biggest wonder is if she can remember sights forever with only a few glances, why did she have to go back so many times…"

Lucas looked up at the screen where Missy was seething, arms crossed in front of her chest, the expression on her face peeved and lips pursed in annoyance.

"But she's an enigma. All I've made of her is that Missy Bradford is an overachieving perfectionist who has her entire life planned and figured out to the millisecond. But nothing she really said struck me as odd. And I can't think of a possible motive for her to take the diamond."

"Maybe we should come back to her later then." Farkle suggested. "So who's next?"

Missy had near bitten off his ear. He definitely didn't want to have to deal with the blonde or the one with the glasses. They looked like they would chew him out and piss him off too.

"The nervous looking one."


	3. Riley Matthews: The Virtuous

**ATTENTION READERS: Due to the nature of _some_ of the reviews (predictions and what not), I don't trust myself to answer them without giving away something accidentally. I can't even respond to the review with smiley faces or anything of the sort because it could be interpreted as confirmation or denial. So if you have a prediction or something of a guess or something of an analysis in your review, and I don't respond? It's only because I'm scared I'll spoil something! By all means, keep up the predictions and guesses if you want to! They're really fun to read, but just know that I won't respond to reviews like that until the end! Thank you :)  
**

 **SUSPECT NUMBER 2.**

 **Thank you for the reviews! I appreciate it very much! :3  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but damn these characters are so much fun to play with! ^_^**

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 _Riley Matthews; 24; Senior intern at Greenwich Village Museum of Historical Antiquities and Madeleine Porter's personal intern. In grad school to receive her Master's in Ancient Culture and Civilizations. Stated that she once took an encyclopedia from the library without checking it out because she really wanted to read it and the library was closing. She returned it two minutes later and personally apologized to all the librarians because she felt guilty. A little too chipper. A little too naïve. A little too innocent. Is this an act? No one can be that innocent, can they…?_

When Lucas entered the room, the brunette's eyes shot to him and she fidgeted in her seat, looking anxious and like she was two seconds from crying.

"Riley Matthews. I'm Detective Lucas Friar." He said, taking a seat across from her.

"H-how are you, Detective Friar?" she said in a somewhat small voice, her eyes wide and worried. "Sorry about this. I'm just scared…"

"I'm doing fine, thanks." He frowned, "There's no reason to be scared. It's just a simple questioning. Answer the questions you can and everything will go swimmingly."

"I'm not going to prison, am I? Because I can't go to prison."

"You're not going to prison." Lucas assured her, opening up her file and perusing the contents he'd already skimmed. "Provided you didn't do it that is."

"I-I didn't steal the diamond."

He stared at her, noting the fear in her expression. She was chewing her bottom lip in fright, her brows furrowed apprehensively. She looked like a nervous wreck.

"Right. Anyway. Riley Matthews. The only thing on your record is a ticket for impeding traffic once when you were seventeen for driving at ten miles per hour on a forty minimum speed road. You paid it the day you received it. You clearly have a distinct lack of criminal activity in your record, so at first glance, one wouldn't think you capable of theft." His eyes narrowed. "It says here you were the one who tripped the alarm at 8:55 during the final inspections, though."

"I'm such a super klutz. I tripped and fell on Madeleine while helping her lock up certain exhibits and caused us both to fall and hit and activate an alarm." Riley looked remorseful. "Madeleine dropped everything in her hands because of me and I apologized profusely and I had to make haste to help her pick up all the stuff because it was just so much stuff. Literally all over the floor. But at least for the most part, rounds had been finished, so she just had me do a quick run through to the exhibit to make sure everything was okay."

"Officer McMillan was present when you tripped, correct?"

"He was. He did the final rounds with us."

"Yet, he still suspected you. His specific words for his suspicions were because of your exposure to the stone. Care to elaborate?"

"Well, I guess I could see why he would think of me as a suspect." Riley tittered nervously, "From his point of view, I'm probably the most likely to have stolen it since I am second in charge and after all, I do know quite literally everything about the museum like the back of my hand and I have direct and easy access to all rooms and facilities with the exception of the keys to exhibits and I _was_ the tour guide for the Blue Diamond exhibit so I had to spend countless hours in front of it, starting from when it arrived, plus, as senior intern, I'm also present at every staff meeting and I'm in charge of supervising security measures, deciding the routes for exhibit tours and what is said and what is discussed and being Madeleine's personal intern, she needs me to know everything she does so I am privy to a lot of information about affairs of the museum though that might change soon because she did threaten to fire me for the diamond getting stolen by someone although that's nothing new I guess…"

She sighed, somewhat dejectedly, and Lucas' brows furrowed, a little put off by her lengthy description and long rant. She looked upset.

"Do you get threatened to be fired a lot?"

"I guess."

"Rough estimate."

"Pretty much every day." Riley shrugged with a sheepish smile. "I mess up a lot. The other day, I accidentally put pepper instead of sugar in Madeleine's tea and it caused a huge fuss because she's really allergic to pepper and she yelled at me for a good ten minutes about being stupid and messing up something simple that shouldn't be too easy to pick apart the difference and I apologized like—"

"So why do you think you haven't you been fired by Porter yet?" Lucas interrupted, recognizing that she was about to go off on a long babbling rant he neither had the time nor the patience to listen to. "You know, despite all of these mistakes."

"Well, I'm good at what I do. Madeleine always yells at me saying 'if your knowledge about history and keen observations of various cultures weren't superb I would have kicked out your dimwitted ass a long time ago'." Riley giggled halfheartedly, briefly imitating a gravely, old lady tone that Lucas presumed was supposed to be the director of the museum. "I guess that's been saving me all this time."

She was laughing, but there was something off in her expression. Something like frustration. Something like disconcert. It was subtle, but it was there.

"Do you have a good relationship with Director Porter?"

"I have a very good relationship with her." She said, a coil of hair twirled in her finger.

Lucas' eyes narrowed suspiciously. "She yells at you every day, yet you say you have a good relationship?"

"Y-yes…" Riley stuttered with a concerned frown. "We have a good relationship."

"Do you actually? Or are you just saying that?" Lucas pressed. "Because it seems to me like she treats you like a dog, forcing you to do everything and then the minute you mess up, you get yelled at. Tell me: Does she yell at you in front of the other interns? What kinds of other insulting things has she said to you?"

Riley averted her gaze uncomfortably, staring at the table with a small frown on her face.

"…Madeleine Porter and I have a good relationship. Regardless of the yelling or insults. I'd really appreciate it if we could move on from this topic of conversation now, Detective Friar."

His lips quirked up in a small smirk. So there _was_ some sour hidden in all the sweet.

"Alright then. Let's move on." Lucas looked at her file. "Tell me about your work day the day of the burglary."

"Well…" Riley tapped absentmindedly on her chin, a pensive expression on her face. "I showed up to work at 8:00 AM with Madeleine to set the museum and exhibits. I helped her set up the exhibit for the Blue Diamond when it finally showed up after being shipped. Sorry. I can't remember when the diamond arrived."

"It's fine." Lucas responded, jotting down some notes, "Continue."

"At 9:00 we opened up the museum to spectators. I began tours at 10:00 AM and those go until final tours which are always at 6:30 PM. From 2:00 to 3:00 PM I took a lunch break so I went to a café down the street. The exhibits close at 7:30 and that's when I grabbed dinner from the employee room while some other interns cleared out the remaining spectators. There usually aren't that many people left by that time, so the interns don't need my supervision. All the other interns were dismissed after 7:45 and then Madeleine and I did final rounds with Officer McMillan at 8:00. And you know what happened after that."

Lucas nodded "You said after the alarm got tripped, Director Porter had you do quick checks around the exhibit. Did you properly check the diamond?"

"I… I didn't really." Riley admitted with a wince, looking conflicted as she twirled a loose strand of hair in front of her face. "I had an exam I needed to get to by 9:00 and it was just about that time. I was already late enough as it was because of the whole alarm mishap. I did a quick glance and ran off when I saw it was still in the case. I got to my exam really late. Around 9:20 I believe, so I only had about forty minutes left to work on it. I was really bummed out because I didn't finish it in time."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It was unfortunate. I asked Madeleine if I could leave from final rounds early for my exam, but she said no." Riley smiled slightly. "But it is what it is. I was sad about it, but I wouldn't let it get me down and told a friend of mine—her name is Sarah and she's absolutely the cutest person you could ever meet and she hates when I call her cute, but she's just adorable and I can't help but think so."

"Matthews." He cut her off with a raised brow. "Just what happened after the exam, please."

"Sorry! I told Sarah about a concert happening at 11:00 and that she should go with me. After our exams, we always go to Starbucks to grab some quick ritual late night lattes before heading home. We went between 10:05 and 10:10 I think. Then I went back to my apartment to get ready. I live about ten minutes from the Starbucks. I left my apartment around 10:45. Got to the concert right as it started."

"Was Sarah with you at your apartment?"

"Ummm no. We met up at the concert."

Lucas rose a brow. "You're claiming that you were in your apartment from around 10:20 to 10:45, and got to the concert at the start. Can anyone confirm that alibi?"

Riley's brows furrowed, her expression frightened as she wrung her hands together.

"Well… n-no, I guess. I was by myself."

"So from the time you left Starbucks to about 11:00, you were basically MIA."

"Is that bad? Oh no. It's bad, isn't it?!"

"It's not bad, per se. It just means that there's a hole in your story that prevents you from being cleared as a suspect."

"I didn't steal the diamond though." Riley whimpered slightly, looking scared out of her mind. "Why do I have to stay here?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go until this case is solved." Lucas revisited some other notes he had taken. "I am curious though. If you're the second in charge at the museum, why did Porter not contact you that the real diamond had been stolen once she found out?"

Riley rubbed the back of her neck. "Well. I kind of lied to her and told her my exam would be until midnight so she wouldn't call me."

Lucas' eyes narrowed. "Why would you assume she would call you _that_ specific evening? That's some pretty specific foresight."

"Call to discuss the other interns." Riley clarified. "As a senior intern, I'm in charge of making sure they all stay on top of things. So after hours, she will call me to discuss them and get updated on everything regarding the interns, particularly the new hires and trainees. We don't have time to do it during the day, so often times she'll call me in the evening. But I wanted the evening free so I stretched the truth a little bit."

"Alright then." Lucas said, "You said you were in charge of handling the tours for the Blue Diamond exhibit?"

"Yes." She smiled, "I do the tours."

"What happens during the tours?"

"I take the people around the exhibit so that they can have a chance to get to know it. The tour takes people around the history of the diamond, its discovery in the ruins of the abandoned mine and various other interesting facts. There's also a small video shown to further teach about it. If anyone wants to hop in a tour, I do one every thirty minutes."

"Did anyone who took the tour come off as particularly suspicious to you in any way?"

Riley shook her head apologetically, absentmindedly twirling a lock of hair in her finger. "Not really, no. The tours can get a bit large at times. Huge groups come and schools do field trips so sometimes I get more than thirty people in tours at once. I don't keep track of who takes the tours."

Lucas nodded in understanding. "Do you enjoy what you do?"

Riley's eyebrows rose on her forehead, as if surprised by the question.

"I mean, I suppose. It can be a little mundane as a personal intern at times, but it'll help me one day. I aspire to be a museum curator in the future. Own my own museum too." She smiled happily. "And I do absolutely love history."

"That's good." Lucas said as he closed her file and stood up. "I have no further questions. Thank you for your cooperation."

"I'm not going to prison, am I?!" she gasped, staring up at him in fright.

"No. If you're innocent, that is." Lucas replied as he made his way to the door. "We have to investigate some more, but we'll get back to you soon."

He walked out of the interrogation room stifling a yawn from the fatigue slowly creeping up to him, heading over to where Farkle was standing.

"I sent someone to confirm part of her story." Farkle stated as he took the file Lucas handed him, "What do you think about her? Innocent?"

"It was hard to tell with her…" Lucas said honestly, staring at the nervous doe eyed brunette on the screen, "She's either legitimately an incredibly nervous, innocent woman or she's putting on some sort of elaborate act. One thing that struck me as odd is the fact that she lied to Porter about how long her exam was for a justifiable enough reason. But it doesn't seem like she ever told Porter the truth, and she always corrects her wrong doings or mistakes in some way as soon as possible. But not this time. Something tells me her relationship with Porter is not as chummy as she makes it out to be. If she stole the diamond, her motive could easily be revenge on her boss."

"Yeah, I thought so too. She's a little suspicious, but her personality just seems so natural at the same time." Farkle sighed, "So who next?"

Lucas looked at the remaining two girls. As much as he wanted to avoid it, he knew he'd have to get it out of the way sometime. And he'd rather not have to deal with her last because he had a feeling she would be the most difficult.

"Blondie."


	4. Maya Hart: The Renegade

**SUSPECT NUMBER 3.**

 **Thanks for the reviews! Thank you for being interested in this stupid af story ahahahahah xD  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but damn these characters are so much fun to play with! ^_^**

* * *

 _Maya Hart; 25; Bartender at Filthy Kitty, a Coyote Ugly type place. Gotten in trouble with the law multiple times since her teenage years. Went to a juvenile correction facility for theft at sixteen. Ran away and joined the circus when released after a year. Came back to the city at twenty one. Currently attending college to receive a bachelor's in studio art and art history. Stated she will cheat and she will steal but she does not lie. Hardheaded, difficult, snarky, indifferent, doesn't care about anything. A stereotypical rebel…?_

"Maya Hart. I'm Detective Lucas Friar."

She stared at him, brow raised in amusement as he took a seat in the chair across from her. She had her feet kicked up on the table, arms propped behind her head.

"About time you people finally got around to this questioning thing." She yawned. "Been there, done that. So let's just get this thing out of the way so I can get out of here."

"You think you're innocent?"

She smirked. "Can we get on with this? You're not going to get anything that I haven't already told the other cop."

Lucas' eyes narrowed. "You really think so? You do realize you're dealing with the FBI, don't you? We know you better than you even know yourself. This isn't a game."

"It's _always_ a game, Ranger Rick." She said cryptically.

He felt his irritation spike, already dreading having to talk to this woman.

"Look. I've had a rough morning—"

"Clearly."

"—so if you could stop being difficult and cooperate, that'd be nice."

Maya scoffed, sneering at him. "I love how you're asking _me_ to cooperate, when this whole time I've been telling _you_ to get on with the questioning. If anyone isn't cooperating, it's you."

Lucas' jaw clenched, and he wished he had just grabbed another quick cup of coffee before walking into this room. He thought Missy was bad.

"I'm right." Maya said smugly. "So can you get this thing going? I have a hangover I'd rather be sleeping off right now."

He rolled his eyes and opened her file. She wanted to play a game? Fine, he'd play.

"Maya Hart. As you know, you're one of four suspects in the theft of the Blue Diamond at the museum. And looking at your record, I'd say you're the prime suspect." He glimpsed at her file before meeting her gaze. "Numerous suspensions for fighting at school. Expelled from two. Arrested many times for underage drinking and graffiti, breaking and entering houses through attics, and burglary through deactivating alarms and tampering with security systems. You've stolen quite a bit of stuff in your past. Even went to juvie for stealing a handful of rings from a jewelry store at the mall. You've been involved with some shady people as well. An ex-boyfriend of yours, Brandon, had a small stint in jail for extortion and selling hand crafted imitations of expensive bags and purses."

"Yeah? So what?" She scoffed. "That stuff happened nine years ago. And Brandon and I broke up ages ago. The past is in the past. You're grasping for straws, Huckleberry. I'm sure you can do better than that."

"Am I? Those aren't skills you just lose overnight." Lucas said with a raised brow. "You showed up at the museum with your studio art course around 12:57. Your class took a tour at 1:00. Around 1:08, you were sighted slipping away from the tour and went to the diamond case. The officer watched as you stood there, _sketching_ the diamond. Then you went to the bathroom around 1:27 before rejoining your class for the end of the tour. I'd say that's pretty suspicious behaviour."

"Sure, I'll give you that one, Sundance. I probably did look suspicious. And hell yeah, I could definitely see why someone would steal the stone. It's gorgeous. But I'm an _artist_. I draw beautiful things. The diamond was particularly beautiful. Drawing is how I document the best things that happen to me. And obviously, I wouldn't be able to sketch it out during the tour."

"You couldn't take a picture of the diamond instead?"

"I can barely pay my rent, Hopalong." She snorted derisively, "You think I can afford a smartphone or a camera?"

He ignored her irritating little nickname.

"Is money a real issue for you?"

"I mean, sure. In the way that every adult has to deal with general expenses of living." She shrugged. "But I don't care. It doesn't bother me."

"But it does, doesn't it?" he questioned. "You're not as tough as you think you are."

"Why don't you come around to this side of the table so I can kick your ass and then we can see if that's true or not?"

"Play up the tough act all you want. You're not fooling anyone." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Katy Hart. Went to prison for possession of illegal drugs and breaking parole when you were sixteen. Did six years."

"What the hell does my mother have anything to do with this investigation?"

"It has everything to do with this investigation. Because you went to juvie as a consequence of trying to steal rings so you could sell them and pay for her release."

Maya said nothing, staring at him with slightly narrowed eyes.

"Your mother checked herself into a rehabilitation facility for substance abuse a while ago. Rehab isn't exactly cheap. Especially for a woman who doesn't work. You're paying for her treatment with your job funds, but I'm sure it must be stretching you thin. You're on scholarship at the college you attend, but I'm sure you're worried about how you'll pay for grad school once you graduate."

"You dogs really dig up a lot of dirt." Maya chuckled, looking at her fingernails.

"That's not all." He continued. "Maya Penelope Hart. Gold medalist in several nationwide junior gymnastics competitions in your youth. You took gymnastics lessons until your mom developed a habit when you were twelve. Then your life of crime and delinquency began. After your year in juvie, you ran away with the circus for about four years. Contortionist act and lead acrobat. Despite the lazy exterior you project, you're very athletic and agile—"

"I'm also very _flexible_." She said with a saucy wink.

"—enough to easily snatch a diamond. Small enough to sneak around undetected. Small enough to fit in vents. There's a lot of evidence pointing to you as the diamond thief."

"It does seem that way, doesn't it? And from a skilled thief's POV, stealing it would be more easily done by someone small and quick and light on their feet." Maya said in amusement. "But you're not doing your job right, Huckleberry. Innocent until proven guilty, remember? You're acting like you've already decided I'm guilty."

"You don't exactly scream innocent."

"Sure, sure. Do you want to at least know what I was doing that night?"

"I doubt it'll help you much, but go right ahead. Surprise me."

"Well, I showed up for work at 7:54, ready to help my boss handle the wave of customers. It was a pretty busy night, you know? Live entertainment and all. So I worked the counter until about 9:12. Then I asked my boss if I could take a break to go to the bathroom. At 9:47, I was finally done."

"You're kidding, right? You were on the toilet for thirty five minutes." he deadpanned. "Is everything a joke to you?"

"I didn't grow up with the best diet, you know. So I developed some… digestive issues, to put it politely." She snorted, biting her lip to keep from laughing out loud, "Anyway, I was back to working the counter at 9:50 where I stayed for the rest of the night until we closed at 4 AM. Ask my boss."

"Did anyone see you while you were doing your business in the bathroom?"

She gave him a dry look.

"I take that as a no. So you've got a hole in your alibi from 9:12 to 9:47 if nobody can confirm they saw you during that time. As far as I'm concerned, I'd say you're still the prime suspect."

"Oh sure. Suspect the criminal why dontcha." Maya said sarcastically with a wry grin, removing her feet from the table and slouching in her chair, resting her chin on the table. "I guess my past will forever follow me, no matter what I do. What a miserable existence, never being able to be anyone new because people who don't even know me judge me for the mistakes I made in the past. Once a criminal, always a criminal."

Lucas' eyes narrowed. "I'd say we're done here, wouldn't you?"

"So your verdict is that I'm guilty?"

"No. There's no concrete or direct evidence pointing to you." Lucas said, slamming her file shut and standing up, "But you're still the prime suspect."

"Hold on a second." Maya said, her eyes shining in mirth, "I wasn't finished yet. Something interesting happened at Filthy Kitty that night."

Lucas stared at her in distrust, wondering if he wanted to listen to her twisted words any more. Everything seemed like a joke to her. Who was to say she wouldn't keep playing around annoyingly? His patience was wearing thin enough as it was and he still had one more person to question.

"Don't you want to know about this interesting thing?"

"I'm listening."

"Harley Keiner. You know him?"

Harley Keiner was suspected for being involved in a number of high profile jewel heists and robberies that Lucas had investigated in the past. Despite being questioned several times by several different agents, no crimes were ever able to be tied back to him. Lucas knew he was involved in those old high profile cases. But he always managed to evade capture for insufficient evidence.

His jaw clenched. "I know who he is. You're saying you say him at Filthy Kitty?"

"It was a busy night, but I'm pretty sure I saw ole Q ball. He came around 11:15 ish. Disappeared towards the bathrooms at 11:18. Left around 11:23 ish. The other time I saw him was about three months ago. He came on a coyote ugly night, flirted with our other bartender, Darby, but he left shortly after."

"Did you speak to him?"

"Never. Like I said, busy nights. I was serving drinks." She said sarcastically. "I _am_ the bartender, you know?"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm rewarding you for managing to dig that deep into my personal life and past which I've always managed to keep out of the prying hands of law enforcement."

Lucas glared at her. "How exactly did you manage that? This kind of stuff should show up on your record."

"Like you said," Maya shrugged nonchalantly, "I used to be involved with some pretty shady people. Taught me how to 'fix' my record when I needed to."

"You know you can go to jail for that, right? You just confessed to a crime." Lucas said as Maya rolled her eyes in disinterest.

"Okay. I don't care."

"Right, right. Because you're this tough rebel in leather and dark makeup totally impervious to anything in the world, yeah?"

"You're going to talk about what _I_ look like when you're pretty unkempt? You didn't even shave and your hair is all over the place on your head." Maya snorted. "I thought you agents were supposed to be more put together. Shady glasses, suit and tie, clean shaven, hair slicked back. Did you get dressed in a barn?"

"Those are spies." He ignored her quip at his obvious disheveled state. "I'm an FBI agent."

"So what you're saying is that you FBI agents are slobs."

"Enough." He barked. "I don't have time for this."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you're going, Bucky McBoingBoing? The game isn't over." Maya smirked. "You made your move. But now it's my turn. Let me reward you again."

"What?"

"I wasn't just a contortionist for the circus, you know? I also did palm readings and fortunes and stuff like that. Because I can read people very well. And you're no exception, cowboy. Here we go."

Lucas' narrowed his eyes.

She grinned, her eyes sparkling mischievously.

"I've got you totally figured out. So... you grew up spending time on Pappy Joe's big farm in Texas. Then when you turned ten, I guess, your father forced you to stop going to the farm and to focus on your studies. Oh but you didn't like that. Little Lucas resented his father, turned into an ass himself. Ever the controlling ass—Papa Friar, that is—Mama Friar made you move with her after the separation so you wouldn't get into any trouble because you acted out against your dad. Ironically, you entered law enforcement in the future after getting kicked out of school for acts of delinquency. Thus, the Lucas Friar in front of me was born.

"To finish up, your no-nonsense attitude is a result of the lack of control in your own life in your youth. Hell, the permanent scowl on your face is an effort to try to mask the fact that you have some deep problems. Except your abrasive and brusque manner of speaking and difficulty controlling your particularly difficult suspects—aka me—only goes to show you honestly have some pretty bad demons in your past. Ergo, your lack of patience and obvious irritability? Nefarious underlying anger issues you keep pushing further and further down, hoping they'll go away on their own eventually only for them to pop right back in your face. Deep down you're terrified of becoming your father and every day that goes by, you slowly realize you're becoming him, a workaholic, jaded, angry, impatient, and _c_ _ontrolling_ man."

He glared at her in silence as she quirked a brow.

"Tell me I'm wrong."

"Just sit here and shut the hell up."

Her loud, obnoxious cackles followed Lucas as he left the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Farkle looked like he was holding back a laugh as Lucas gave him back the file and took the last one.

"So… clearly you think she stole the diamond?" Farkle said.

"I don't like her. Something's fishy."

Farkle smirked. "You sure it's not just you pissed off that she was able to guess your life story?"

"No." He shot Farkle an annoyed look. "She has the background and expertise to pull off this kind of heist. And her possible motive would be the most desperate. To help her mom."

"You do have a point…" Farkle said, "But then again, so did she. We can't just assume she did the crime. Either way, at least there's only one more left to go."

"Right."

The woman with the glasses.


	5. Isadora Smackle: The Prodigy

**SUSPECT NUMBER 4.  
**

 **Thanks for the reviews! I hope you all enjoy this chapter! xD  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but damn these characters are so much fun to play with! ^_^**

* * *

 _Isadora Smackle; 24; Geek squad computer technician. Graduated MIT undergrad magna cum laude at age of twenty. Currently getting Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering. Holds world record for being youngest and fastest person (at age 13) to completely disassemble a desktop computer and reassemble it. Incredibly technologically gifted. Known to be good at everything she attempts and does. Straight-laced, uptight, a genius. Evil genius, maybe…?_

"Isadora Smackle?" Lucas took a seat in the free chair, hoping this one wouldn't drain him any more than he was already drained. "I'm Detective Lucas Friar."

"I'll have you know that you're making a mistake." She huffed, pushing her glasses up her nose. "I have studied law for a few years, so I can be my own lawyer."

Clearly she was uptight. Lucas felt exhausted. Nevermind the fact that it was getting around to the afternoon and he was sleep deprived, but speaking to the other women had depleted all his energy.

"We're not convicting you. Just asking some questions."

"I don't have to answer them if I don't want to."

"You don't, sure. But you are a suspect in the crime of a high profile rare jewel. And having already spoken to the other suspects, if you don't speak, you'll be putting yourself in a difficult position."

"Using the unknown of what the other suspects have said." Her eyes narrowed. "You're good."

"Thank you." He said dryly, skimming her file. "So let me just cut to the chase. How did you come to know about the Blue Diamond?"

"I remembered reading a little blurb advertising the opening of the exhibit in The Vendetta."

"Okay." Lucas continued. "You came to the exhibit at exactly 5:24 PM. It's been stated by the officer that you took three successive tours in a row for the Blue Diamond exhibit—"

"Three crappy tours."

"—before you left at 7:00." He eyed her. "Why did you take three in a row?"

"Like I said. They were crappy tours. The tour guide was a bumbling idiot who kept messing up her words and took us through some crazy weird route around the diamond exhibit. At some point, we were even walking through the hallway facing the front of the exhibit and the diamond. It almost sounded like she was talking in gibberish or code or something. There were so many verbal ticks and whoopsies in her speech and I'm pretty sure at some point she was singing. So I had to take three so I could actually understand the information."

"You also were sighted taking a lot of pictures of the exhibit."

"It was pretty interesting. I've always been a fan of gaining more knowledge. History isn't my forte, so I'm trying to become more well-rounded in all aspects of life so I can conquer the world. Plus, the diamond itself was spectacular; the cut, the shape, the way it glinted in the light, the size of it."

"Spectacular enough to steal?" Lucas slipped in with a raised eyebrow.

She pushed her glasses up her nose with her finger, curling her lip in disgust. "Perhaps, if I was an amateur. Do you really think I would be so dumb as to steal a diamond and put _my_ whole life in jeopardy? That kind of thrill in burglary isn't for me. If I wanted to steal a diamond, I would get some actual thief to do it, thank you very much. And I wouldn't be so dumb as to make a faulty, shoddily done, hasty replica that has noticeable differences from the original. You insult me."

She was uptight _and_ annoying. What was it with these short and tiny women being the most annoying?

"Besides, what motive would I even have to steal it?"

"You tell me. In fact, why don't you tell me where you were the evening of the theft?"

Her eyes momentarily widened and she shifted her gaze to the right. "I can't."

"Why not?"

"I just can't." She said irritably, "You think just because you're remotely attractive that I'm just going to swoon and reveal it because you asked? That's not the way life works, you know?"

Lucas' brows furrowed. He was so utterly confused by what she was even talking about.

"Do you not understand what precarious situation you're in right now? If you don't talk, we _will_ jump to conclusions that it's because you committed the crime. You're not making it any better for yourself."

She sighed and rubbed her temples in annoyance.

"I can't reveal it."

"Alright then. I was hoping I wouldn't have to come to this. But it looks like I'm going to have to change my approach." Lucas glowered at her. "Isadora Smackle. Known incognito as alter ego Izzy, the purple wigged bassist of a heavy metal rock band called the Elitists. But that's your band's cover. Because the four of you are known in the underground world as Smack because what you do leaves an impact. And what are you? An elite group of technologically skilled computer hackers who have been on the FBI's radar for a while due to some interesting fingerprints you once left touching some lower level business databases. We don't consider you a threat at the moment, because you all seem to just be playing games. It's nothing serious right now. But who knows? You all could very well decide you want to hack a government database one day. Maybe it's time to investigate you guys. Put a stop to things before they get bad. Who knows what incriminating things we could find? …Things that could send you to prison."

"You're _really_ good." She let out a long sigh. "Well since you clearly know my secret, then I might as well let the cat out of the bag. The Elitists secured a gig at a bar three months ago. It was our first show after about a year of hiatus. So obviously, I hadn't practiced any of our set due to work. The day of our gig, since I spent my morning working and then spent the early evening at the museum, I needed some time to remember the songs."

"What's with the double life?"

"I'm bored. Science was too easy growing up, and I wanted to tackle other projects. Like I said: become a well-rounded person to conquer the world. So I tried out technology for college and tried out music and surprisingly, they coincided and music was a perfect cover for my hacking that before I knew it in the past, I was in high demand to hack motion sensors and tamper with lasers and alarm systems. Maybe take a file or two."

"By criminal organizations?"

"That's none of your business." She said frankly, "The point is, I did it. Because it was just that easy. For the other guys in my group—people who used to be in my debate team in high school—it doesn't come as easily to them. Plus, it doesn't help that we don't have much upgraded equipment to practice with. But it does come easy to me. And the challenge to improve and get much better gives me a thrill. And so sometimes I hack."

"Is that what you were doing that night? Hacking the museum?"

She scoffed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose with two fingers. "No. Like I said, I was practicing my bass. I left the museum at 7:00 and then I headed straight to our practice studio where we do our hacking and programming—the basement of one of my member's childhood homes—so we could rehearse before the show in four hours. But it quickly became apparent that I was rusty and not ready to rehearse with them, so at 8:00, I went in a private practice room, one of the bedrooms. Around 10:30, I was done. We left and went to our show."

"Was anyone with you while you were practicing?"

"The other three were in the other room on the cheap computers."

"So no one saw you?"

"No, but they could hear bass playing."

Lucas nodded. "I understand what you're saying, but unfortunately, that doesn't confirm your alibi unless someone saw you. Because who knows, you very well might not have been in that room."

"I was in there the whole time." She rolled her eyes, pushing up her glasses on her nose. "But I get it. It's your job to suspect, and there's no concrete evidence."

"Thank you for being understanding. And for your cooperation." Lucas skimmed her file before shutting it. "I don't have any further questions for you, so if you'll excuse me."

She said nothing, still rigidly sitting in her chair as Lucas left the room.

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair as he handed the file back to Farkle.

"This whole thing has been the most exhausting questioning of my life."

"What about that old lady that kept telling you that you looked like her grandson?"

"…This whole thing has been the second most exhausting questioning of my life."

Farkle laughed, "So thoughts on Isadora Smackle?"

"She could easily have hacked the museum's cameras. She has the skills and the background necessary for a complicated bugging. And her motive could be better facilities for Smack other than some crummy computers and the basement of some guy who lives with his mom."

Farkle nodded. "While you were talking to her, I got someone to contact her band members. What she said checked out. They said they heard her playing bass the whole time. She took a short break around 10:05 for a few minutes and then recommenced until 10:30. And it showed because apparently the gig was a huge success. But no actually saw her practicing, so there's still a hole."

"What about Missy's phone call and her time stamp?"

"Those checked out. The article was pretty long. It would take a while to write something of that caliber." Farkle stated. "And her conversation with her boyfriend wasn't anything special. He asked her if they were still on for that night, she told him she wanted to go to the bar, so he agreed. And then the end of the conversation was pretty disgusting so I'm just not going to mention it again."

"Alright, and Maya's boss." Lucas asked as they made their way back to a briefing room to try to piece together the mystery. "Did you get a response?"

"Yes, in fact." Farkle said, "Her boss let Maya go take care of her business to relieve the constipation. It's an ongoing issue for Maya apparently and has happened multiple times in the past so that was why no one checked up on her. They just kind of expect the long bathroom breaks by now. Maya did indeed begin working the counter again around 9:50. But no one saw her during her thirty five minute bathroom break."

"And Riley?"

"She was sighted getting coffee at 10:08 as stated and she did go to her graduate course exam, so those are confirmed. But she disappeared after that, so no confirmation of her apartment alibi."

Lucas sighed, sitting down in the chair next to Farkle's. He opened the files and spread them on the table.

"So we've got four women, all unaccounted for at some point during the reported time of theft whose alibis cannot be confirmed or denied."

Farkle nodded. "Maya from about 9:12 to 9:47. Riley from about 10:10 to 11:00. Smackle was unaccounted for for a pretty long time of about 8:00 to 10:30. But Missy was unaccounted for for the longest time, from about 8:00 to 11:00."

"Where do I even begin…?" Lucas sighed.

"Don't look at me." Farkle said in amusement, "I usually handle forensics. This is all you."

It just didn't make sense. Maya would be the obvious choice, since her motive could be to help her mother and she had the physical capabilities to pull it off. But Riley was a little off in his opinion and she had the most access to the jewel and knew everything about the museum. Not to mention her obvious terrible relationship with her boss. But Smackle could have easily hacked the museum to get the diamond. She was small too. And the Elitists could obviously use a system upgrade. And then there was Missy. Too clean cut and who he could not figure out any conceivable motive for, but that pacing and the intense staring couldn't be overlooked. Even for a journalist, that kind of intrigue didn't make sense, especially since she had a photographic memory. She wouldn't need to scrutinize that intensely.

Lucas read over the notes, their files, thought about the conversations he'd had and what he'd learned. There had to be something that would reveal the truth. He flipped through all four of their files, poring over the material.

Something that would reveal the truth…

Something that would reveal the truth…

Something that would reveal the truth…

And then he saw it.

A slow smirk grew on Lucas' face.

There it was.

"Farkle. I figured it out."

* * *

 **And now it's your turn guys! Who do you think stole the diamond? Use the clues and the situation to try to figure out who took the diamond! The correct guess will win cyber honey walnut cookies! Straight from the cyber oven! And you know, fame for actually guessing who did the crime. G** **ood luck, loves!**

 **Here's a hint: Pay close attention.**

 **(Either this is completely transparent or completely obscure. I don't really know. Sorry if it's dreadful LOLOL! This was my first mystery! I tried!)  
**


	6. And The Culprit Is?

**Well that's it! thank you for playing! Time for the reveal! :3**

 **Some of these were subtle, some of them were obscure, some of them were obvious!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but damn these characters are so much fun to play with! ^_^**

 **UPDATE 09.07.15: Revised this chapter finally ahahah! There were so many damn grammatical errors!**

* * *

"I've reviewed all of your stories, and I've reached a conclusion." Lucas began, staring at each girl in turn.

"You're all guilty."

"What! This is an outrage." Smackle spat. "We can't _all_ be guilty! Only one person can steal a diamond."

"You're right." Lucas smiled. "the one who _physically_ took the diamond…

Lucas turned to face her.

…was Maya Hart."

She rose a brow.

"So you did think I was guilty, Ranger Rick."

"You never vocally stated that you _didn't_ steal the diamond. But everyone else did. Because you don't lie." He stated, "And regardless, I think you know the only one who makes sense to steal it would be you. The other is Smackle, but she said something interesting: "That kind of thrill in burglary isn't for me. If I wanted to steal a diamond, I would get some actual thief to do it."

Maya smirked, looking impressed.

"As I was saying, the one who actually took the diamond was Maya. You have the physical capabilities for thievery and your short stature definitely would help you get through the vents. I'm sure thirty five minutes is plenty enough time for a seasoned thief to go to the bathroom, sneak away and come back. Not to mention you have the resources available to create a replica from Brandon, who is well known for his imitations. You were careless to leave the case open after the switch though. But you all are accomplices in this crime."

Lucas addressed Riley.

"You were the intel on everything about the exhibit and in the museum. You "accidentally" tripped Porter, using your clumsiness as a cover and most likely stole the key for the case when you tripped the alarm. She dropped everything in her hands. Everything including the key, I bet. Somehow you must have managed to pass it to Maya before she carried out her thievery. And since you know everything about the museum, you also know about the five minute shut down. Which helped Smackle sneak in unnoticed."

He turned to Smackle.

"You were behind the camera bugging and turning off the alarm system so Maya could get in and do her work. You have the background to create a complicated program in order to bug the specific cameras. And of course, the challenge to create a bugging program that can easily disintegrate after a certain period of time. What you probably hadn't expected was the glitch in the system when you put the bug in. And how did you get in? Well, you yourself managed to get in unnoticed after Riley's convenient tripping of the alarm. But how were you not noticed, Smackle? Or should I say, _Officer Dana_ the imposter. You have a background in disguising yourself and creating alter egos. Ferry wasn't supposed to come in that day which she had told Porter. So by all means, Riley would have known as the supervisor of security measures. But yet, no one else was made to work that hour shift. A pretty large oversight by Miss Matthews if you ask me. But that's because it wasn't accidental. And how did you know where to go to tamper with surveillance? Riley's weird route through the hallway, no doubt. You said she was talking in code. Code meant for only one person: you."

"And you," he went to Missy. "You're the mastermind behind this pretty ingenious plan. You said something interesting: 'the path I took, every step I take from the moment I walked in'. Your pacing? Mapping out the best route it would take Maya to get to the diamond I presume. Going to the upper floors of the exhibit? Mapping out the path of the vents. And Maya's MO is breaking and entering through roofs and attics. The staring? I haven't quite figured out, but I'm going to take a guess that you were observing for possible alarms in the case."

She snorted. "What?"

"Your so called 'boyfriend'." He continued, slapping down a photo. "Harvey "Harley" Keiner. Speculated in several different cities to have been involved in some high profile robberies. Never has been proven guilty. Spotted in Greenwich Village the night of the crime and three months ago as said by Maya. If I recall correctly, three months ago is when the exhibit for the diamond was announced. Three months ago was when you were sanctioned to write the piece on the diamond."

"That doesn't say anything. That's a bit of a stretch. How do you know my boyfriend really isn't named Harvey?" Missy challenged.

"True. It's a bit of a stretch. But I'm making it, because of one thing you all had in common that night. I know why we couldn't figure it out. We all made the mistake of not looking into the hours _after_ the theft of the diamond. Namely, what happened after 11:00 PM which is the common denominator here."

He glanced at all of them in turn.

"You all were at a bar.

"The bar Harley went to the night of the robbery. Where you bartender at with live entertainment that night Maya, and the bar you convinced your 'boyfriend' to go to that night Missy, the gig the Elitist's played at Smackle, the concert you went to Riley. All at a bar.

"And not just a bar. The Filthy Kitty. Giving you guys plenty of time to conjoin and meet after the heist." He said smugly. "I don't know when or how you met up beforehand with all of the details, but that's not important at the moment. Because I'm right. Three months ago, you all made a plan to steal the diamond. And you executed it exactly last week. And you can deny it if you wish, but just know that we can and will go through _everything_ you did the day of the robbery which will likely reveal the truth: you guys are all accomplices in this crime and sold the diamond to Harley for your own motives no doubt. Riley, to trash the reputation of Director Porter; Maya, to pay for your mother's treatment; Smackle, to get new equipment. I haven't figured out your motive yet though Missy, but that's not important."

The four women all glanced at each other before smiling.

"Nice skills, Detective Huckleberry."

"I'm surprised you were able to penetrate our impervious calculations."

Riley twiddled her thumbs nervously. "I told you guys it would be a bad idea to meet there."

"Shush you." Missy rolled her eyes. "We needed somewhere we could all meet without it being super suspicious or high profile.

"Now the only question is where Harley Keiner is with the diamond." Lucas concluded, "In any case, you all are headed to prison for the theft."

"Congratulations… you did well." Missy said. "But you made a few errors."

"Oh yeah?"

"Well," Riley piped up, "I got the key off of the director and unlocked the case right before I left for my test. So when the alarm system went back online, the case wasn't activated because it was never actually closed. So Maya could open it without an alarm activating."

"And I never turned off the laser systems or deactivated any alarms." Smackle continued, yawning, "Too mundane and too typical in a robbery. I just planted the bug and made sure the cameras that could face the diamond were frozen in time."

"Which brings it to me." Maya smiled triumphantly, "And my amazing skills avoiding lasers. You were right to say that those aren't skills I lost overnight. I was a bit rusty, but it turned out fun. And I wasn't careless. I left the case open after the switch on purpose. Plus, I told you I stole it. You just didn't realize I did."

"And we didn't give Keiner the diamond. Plus, you got our motives wrong. That was the distraction." Missy concluded, reaching into her bra. "We just wanted to prove that we _could_ get the diamond before Keiner. Three months ago, I saw Keiner in the city right after Director Porter had announced the new exhibit. I remembered studying him once in a course back when I was in high school. I recognized his picture and immediately knew why he was in the city. The rest was history."

She set something in the middle of the table.

The Blue Diamond.

Lucas' brows lifted in surprise as he stared at the glimmering stone. "What? Why did you guys steal it if you weren't planning on using it at all?"

They all shrugged nonchalantly, saying in unison: _"We were bored."_

"I like to shake things up a bit." Missy said.

Riley smiled. "I needed something to do aside from being Madeleine's personal punching bag every day."

"I'm a reformed thief turned bartender." Maya smirked. "Obviously I want more thrills in life."

"And I just like a good technological challenge." Smackle concluded.

Lucas stared at them in absolute shock. It was insane how these four women just happened to get bored enough in life and decide on an elaborate heist and execute it like pros.

"So the open case. Using your obvious particular skills in this heist to be suspects."

"Clues so we could get caught." Missy replied.

"You wanted to get caught?" he asked incredulously.

"What fun is stealing a diamond so well that you can't even be recognized for pulling off the elaborate heist? I meant what I said, detective." Missy said. "I _don't_ make mistakes."

"And I told you, Sundance." Maya said with a wink, "It's _always_ a game."

Lucas left the room with the diamond on autopilot, a little confused as he headed over to where Farkle was. He approached him, dropping the diamond in the evidence bag that Farkle held out. The two of them watched as the women were handcuffed and led away through the agency floor.

Farkle looked just as surprised as him. "So what's going to happen to them?"

"They'll be tried. Sent to prison for up to five years probably _if_ the prosecution can prove they were attempting to permanently deprive the owner of their property."

"That'll be hard to prove. Especially since they returned it and said their motivation was boredom." Farkle noted, "Do you think they'll still get time?"

"Maybe. Maya probably more than the other three since she actually did the act of theft."

"Well anyway. Job well done, Lucas. Another case solved." Farkle said, clapping him on the back.

"Thanks."

Lucas's brows furrowed as he stared after where the women were being led away.

Something told him he hadn't seen the last of them yet…

* * *

 **CONGRATULATIONS everyone who guessed that all four: Missy, Riley, Maya, and Smackle worked together! You guys nailed it! (LOL guess I really was transparent!) You win cyber honey walnut cookies (unless you cannot eat them or don't like them in which case, I also made choco chip, snickerdoodles, and white choco macadamia nut!)! Great, excellent, marvelous jobs with the guesses! xD Hope it was entertaining for you guys at least!**

 **Kudos for some pretty damn amazing insight go to:**

 **miaadventure: Your analysis of Missy's character was in depth and you got it to a T and picked up on the subtle hint of her words like a boss! Good job with that!**

 **soccermonkey413: For guessing that Harley is Missy's "boyfriend" :)**

 **Team Austin: I'm pretty sure your analysis got every. Single. Big. Point. Amazing job x3 I was literally in shock after reading how close you were ahahah! :D Incroyable chérie!**

 **ColorfulCute: You can definitely have a cookie for the work you put into organizing all the times, love :) Pretty damn well done.  
**

 **Honourable Mentions go to anyone who attempted it and to everyone who read my story in the first place! Thank you for playing this mess of a mystery hahahaha xD  
**

 **And finally: For those of you who guessed it was all of them together _on the_ _very first chapter before I even introduced any of the suspects_… what the hell… are you psychics?!**

* * *

 **You didn't think that was the end did you ;)**

 _ **WANT TO KNOW ALL THE CLUES FROM THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS? WANT TO KNOW THE FULL STORY? KEEP READING TO FIND OUT**_


	7. Clues

**Here are all the clues that revealed some truth behind the heist :) Some of them are individualized. Some of them are in connection to something one of the other girls said. They are _in bold_. How many of these did you pick up on?**

 **(I realize some of them are absolutely obscure ahahaha and I'm sorry about that! I did my best to not make it impossible to figure out but I'm an amateur at writing mysteries LOL! Cut me some slack x3)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but damn these characters are so much fun to play with! ^_^**

* * *

 **The Case**

\- The Blue Diamond, a rare and high profile diamond **unearthed about three months ago** in the ruins of an abandoned frontier mine in Arizona. The week prior, it was shipped to the Greenwich Village Museum for the opening of an exhibit.

\- The diamond arrived at the museum at 8:15 sharp in the morning. It was settled in its exhibit case by 8:30; the museum opened at 9:00 AM to several spectators interested in seeing the rare beauty. At the museum's closing at 7:30 in the evening, it was still in its case. Every visitor in the museum was gone by 7:45 on the dot. At final rounds by the museum director at 8 PM, the diamond was still in its case. At **8:55, the alarm was accidentally tripped. For five minutes, due to the old circuit system of the museum, the security cameras as well as alarms all temporarily cut off before resetting at 9:00**. When the alarm was rebooted, rounds were continued. **The director stated the real diamond was still in its case.**

\- Around 9:05 PM, the rounds were officially finished up. **The guard cop was changed out with another officer**. At **9:24, seven specific cameras that all faced the diamond all experienced small glitches** before the image settled. At **10:00, the officers were switched out once again**. At 10:45, the new officer did his rounds to make sure everything was in order, walked by the exhibit, **saw the open case** and the diamond and called the director of the museum, Madeleine Porter. She arrived around 10:56 and observed the diamond before **confirming the diamond was a fake** and immediately calling authorities. The rest was history.

\- **The reported time of theft was believed to be between 9:00 and 10:38 PM**.

\- "Absolutely nothing. There was no change in any of the **seven screens that panned the Blue Diamond**." Farkle said with a shrug, "Well, except for the **small glitch at 9:24 that froze the screens**. They didn't pick up any new footage until around 10:30. Other than that, the cameras are unreliable. They're **suspected to have been bugged** , although when checked by tech specialists, there was no residue of a lingering program. No system overrides, no fraying of the circuitry. Nothing."

\- Farkle flipped to another page. "So we questioned Officer Dana Ferry who was listed to have had the nine to ten shift. But **she told us she wasn't due to work that day because she was on vacation in Tahiti. She notified the director a month ago. That's been confirmed by Porter, her cop station, her family, the airport, the resort in Tahiti**. **Everything checks out**. **Dana Ferry wasn't in New York at the time of the robbery**."

\- "Because the trusted guard cop of Director Porter, **Officer Nikolas McMillan, said he saw her and spoke to her. Officer North as well. They both claimed to have spoken to her**."

 **Missy Bradford**

- _Missy Bradford; 26; works for the entertainment and city life sections of The Vendetta, one of the most prestigious magazines in the entire city. A true alpha human being. Life completely put together and planned out to a T. Fiercely independent. No red in her ledger. **Can easily learn and gain skills in complicated things like instruments, dancing and sports due to her eidetic memory**. Stated that she doesn't make mistakes. Perfectionist extraordinaire. Perfect record, perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect life, everything perfect. Maybe almost too perfect…?_

\- "Then after the tour, apparently you **walked through every floor of every exhibit** , always coming back to the diamond when you were done. You **came back to the diamond at least ten times**. All while jotting notes and **slowly pacing in front of the diamond**. Officer McMillan stated you **went to the bathroom around 2:23** and when you returned you came back to the diamond, scrutinizing it until you left the exhibit around 2:40. That's highly suspicious."

\- "I'm a _journalist_? I was writing an article on the diamond." She rolled her eyes as if it should have been obvious. "It's my job to write good stories—the best stories about the city—to keep The Vendetta as the number one most interesting journal in the city. Once a story hits, I grab it no matter what cost. And I **only had one day to get all the info I needed** so we could publish the story on the diamond in our weekly magazine. The article turned out quite well if I do say so myself. Besides, what else was I supposed to do? The **tour guide went on break at 2:00** so it wasn't like I was going to wait an indefinite amount of time for her to come back for another guided tour. I had to get back to the office and just because I had to go to the exhibit didn't mean I didn't have work that day. My work day ends at 8:00. So **I grabbed a bite at a café after I left the exhibit** and headed to the office."

\- " **Director Madeleine Porter contacted The Vendetta three months ago about the incoming exhibit** when the stone was discovered in the ruins of the mine in order to publicize the stone when the time came. So my boss put me on the job to write a series of small articles **in conjunction with Porter** leading up to the exhibit to get people interested and excited. And then one big article once the exhibit came out."

\- "There's a reason why I'm the current number one journalist in the city, detective. **I'm _very_ thorough and detail oriented**. It helps that I have photographic memory. If I'm going to write about the experience seeing the diamond to intrigue the general public into coming to the exhibit, it has to be thorough, right?" Missy explained. "Every moment, **every step, the path I took, how I got to the diamond** , everything seen from the moment I walk through the door to the moment I leave. It has to be documented perfectly so that these magazine **readers can visualize it** and want to experience it themselves."

\- "But your whole 'leave the Blue Diamond, **go to all the exhibits on other higher floors** , **come back to the Blue Diamond thing' happened multiple times**. Explain that."

\- " **I get bored easily**. I like to be occupied at all times. **I like challenges. Shake things up a bit.** I flipped between exhibits as I wrote about them because working on only one thing at once is _so_ boring. But if I have my hands full and more to do, it's a little more exciting."

\- " **My boyfriend Harvey called me** , thank you very much." **Missy picked at her fingernails** , giving Lucas a cross look. "He **got back from a business trip but was going to leave the next day**. We made plans to go out after I got finished writing my articles in the evening."

\- "He wanted to go to some fancy restaurant. But after a day I knew would be hectic, I just wanted to **chill at the bar** and get wasted. So I **told him to meet me there once I was done with all my work**. Then later head back to my apartment to finish out our date the best we know how. So I convinced him to change our plans."

\- "Well, like I already told him, after I left my office at 8:00, **I went back to my apartment** to finish up my article for the Blue Diamond exhibit. I worked on it until **around 10:05 ish and then sent the first draft** to my boss for initial review and editing." Missy said in boredom **, checking out her fingernail polish**. "After which I spent the rest of my time getting ready for my date. And then **at 10:30, I left my apartment.** **Got to the bar at 11:00**."

\- "Well **I'm not lying**." Missy sighed in annoyance, **scraping off a part of the nail polish with her thumb**. " **I was in my apartment until 10:30**."

\- "Look." She snapped, **chewing on her thumbnail** with a fierce glare in Lucas' direction. "While it may be true that no one saw me, **I am _not_ lying. I was in my apartment the whole time, and I was writing**. When would I even have time to try to steal a diamond if I was writing a long article? I sent the draft to my boss. You can contact her for the time stamp and see just how long that draft was. That kind of work takes a lot of time to write."

\- " _The_ _afternoon_?" She cried indignantly, "That is so not fair. **I didn't do it** , and yet I'm missing work because one stupid cop said I was being suspicious when I was doing _my job_. If I get fired because of this, I'm suing you and that Officer McMillan chump."

 **Riley Matthews**

\- _Riley Matthews; 24; **Senior intern at Greenwich Village Museum of Historical Antiquities and Madeleine Porter's personal intern**. In grad school to receive her Master's in Ancient Culture and Civilizations. Stated that she once took an encyclopedia from the library without checking it out because she really wanted to read it and the library was closing. She returned it two minutes later and personally apologized to all the librarians because she felt guilty. A little too chipper. A little too naïve. A little too innocent. Is this an act? No one can be that innocent, can they…?_

\- **"I-I didn't steal the diamond."**

\- "I'm such a super klutz. I **tripped and fell on Madeleine** while helping her **lock up certain exhibits** and caused us both to **fall and hit and activate an alarm**." Riley looked remorseful. "Madeleine **dropped everything in her hands** because of me and I apologized profusely and I had to make **haste to help her pick up all the stuff** because it was just so much stuff. **Literally all over the floor**. But at least for the most part, rounds had been finished, so **she just had me do a quick run through to the exhibit to make sure everything was okay**."

\- "Well, I guess I could see why he would think of me as a suspect." Riley tittered nervously, "From his point of view, I'm probably the most likely to have stolen it since I am **second in charge** and after all, I **do know quite literally everything about the museum like the back of my hand** and I **have direct and easy access to all rooms and facilities with the exception of the keys to exhibits** and I _was_ the tour guide for the Blue Diamond exhibit so I had to spend countless hours in front of it, starting from when it arrived, plus, as senior intern, I'm also **present at every staff meeting and I'm in charge of supervising security measures, deciding the routes for exhibit tours and what is said and what is discussed** and being Madeleine's personal intern, **she needs me to know everything she does** so I am **privy to a lot of information about affairs of the museum** though that might change soon because she did threaten to fire me for the diamond getting stolen by someone although that's nothing new I guess…"

\- "I have a very good relationship with her." She said, **a coil of hair twirled in her finger**.

\- "At 9:00 we opened up the museum to spectators. I began tours at 10:00 AM and those go until final tours which are always at 6:30 PM. **From 2:00 to 3:00 PM I took a lunch break so I went to a café down the street.** The exhibits close at 7:30 and that's when I grabbed dinner from the employee room while some other interns cleared out the remaining spectators. There usually aren't that many people left by that time, so the interns don't need my supervision. All the other interns were dismissed after 7:45 and then Madeleine and I did final rounds with Officer McMillan at 8:00. And you know what happened after that."

\- Lucas nodded "You said **after the alarm got tripped, Director Porter had you do quick checks around the exhibit**. Did you properly check the diamond?"

\- "I… I didn't really." Riley admitted with a wince, looking conflicted as **she twirled a loose strand of hair in front of her face**. "I had an exam I needed to get to by **9:00 and it was just about that time**. I was already late enough as it was because of the whole alarm mishap. I **did a quick glance and ran off when I saw it was still in the case**. I got to my exam really late. Around 9:20 I believe, so I only had about forty minutes left to work on it. I was really bummed out because I didn't finish it in time."

\- "Sorry! I told Sarah about a **concert happening at 11:00** and that she should go with me. After our exams, we always go to Starbucks to grab some quick ritual late night lattes before heading home. We went between 10:05 and 10:10 I think. Then I went back to my apartment to get ready. I live about ten minutes from the Starbucks. I left my apartment around 10:45. **Got to the concert right as it started**."

\- **"I didn't steal the diamond though."** Riley whimpered slightly, looking scared out of her mind. "Why do I have to stay here?"

\- "I take the people **around the exhibit so that they can have a chance to get to know it**. The tour takes people around the history of the diamond, its discovery in the ruins of the abandoned mine and various other interesting facts. There's also a small video shown to further teach about it. If anyone wants to hop in a tour, I do one every thirty minutes."

\- Riley shook her head apologetically, **absentmindedly twirling a lock of hair in her finger**. "Not really, no. The tours can get a bit large at times. Huge groups come and schools do field trips so sometimes I get more than thirty people in tours at once. **I don't keep track of who takes the tours**."

\- "I mean, I suppose. **It can be a little mundane** as a personal intern at times, but it'll help me one day. I aspire to be a museum curator in the future. Own my own museum too." She smiled happily. "And I do absolutely love history."

 **Maya Hart**

\- _Maya Hart; 25; **Bartender at Filthy Kitty** , a Coyote Ugly type place. Gotten in trouble with the law multiple times since her teenage years. Went to a juvenile correction facility for theft at sixteen. Ran away and joined the circus when released after a year. Came back to the city at twenty one. Currently attending college to receive a bachelor's in studio art and art history. Stated she will cheat and **she will steal but she does not lie**. Hardheaded, difficult, snarky, indifferent, doesn't care about anything. A stereotypical rebel…?_

\- **"You think you're innocent?"**

 **She smirked. "Can we get on with this?** You're not going to get anything that I haven't already told the other cop."

\- **"It's _always_ a game** , **Ranger Rick." She said cryptically.**

\- "Maya Hart. As you know, you're one of four suspects in the theft of the Blue Diamond at the museum. And looking at your record, I'd say you're the prime suspect." He glimpsed at her file before meeting her gaze. "Numerous suspensions for fighting at school. Expelled from two. Arrested many times for underage drinking and graffiti, **breaking and entering houses through attics, and burglary** through deactivating alarms and tampering with security systems. You've stolen quite a bit of stuff in your past. Even went to juvie for stealing a handful of rings from a jewelry store at the mall. You've been involved with some shady people as well. An **ex-boyfriend of yours, Brandon, had a small stint in jail for extortion and selling hand crafted imitations** of expensive bags and purses."

\- "Am I? Those aren't skills you just lose overnight." Lucas said with a raised brow. "You showed up at the museum with your studio art course around 12:57. Your class took a tour at 1:00. Around 1:08, you were sighted slipping away from the tour and went to the diamond case. The officer watched as you stood there **, _sketching_ the diamond**. Then you **went to the bathroom around 1:27** before rejoining your class for the end of the tour. I'd say that's pretty suspicious behaviour."

\- "That's not all." He continued. "Maya Penelope Hart. **Gold medalist in several nationwide junior gymnastics competitions** in your youth. You took gymnastics lessons until your mom developed a habit when you were twelve. Then your life of crime and delinquency began. After your year in juvie, you ran away with the circus for about four years. **Contortionist act and lead acrobat.** Despite the lazy exterior you project, you're **very athletic and agile** —"

\- "— **enough to easily snatch a diamond. Small enough to sneak around undetected. Small enough to fit in vents.** There's a lot of evidence pointing to you as the diamond thief."

\- "It does seem that way, doesn't it? And from a skilled thief's POV, **stealing it would be more easily done by someone small and quick and light on their feet**." Maya said in amusement. "But you're not doing your job right, Huckleberry. Innocent until proven guilty, remember? You're acting like you've already decided I'm guilty."

\- "Well, I showed up for work at 7:54, ready to help my boss handle the wave of customers. It was a pretty busy night, you know? **Live entertainment and all**. So I **worked the counter until about 9:12**. **Then I asked my boss if I could take a break** to go to the bathroom. **At 9:47, I was finally done**."

\- "Oh sure. Suspect the criminal why dontcha." Maya said sarcastically with a wry grin, removing her feet from the table and slouching in her chair, resting her chin on the table. "I guess my past will forever follow me, no matter what I do. What a miserable existence, never being able to be anyone new because people who don't even know me judge me for the mistakes I made in the past. **Once a criminal, always a criminal.** "

\- **Harley Keiner was suspected for being involved in a number of high profile jewel heists and robberies** that Lucas had investigated in the past. Despite being questioned several times by several different agents, no crimes were ever able to be tied back to him. Lucas knew he was involved in those old high profile cases. But he always managed to evade capture for insufficient evidence.

\- "It was a busy night, but I'm pretty sure I saw ole Q ball. He **came around 11:15 ish. Disappeared towards the bathrooms at 11:18. Left around 11:23 ish**. The other time I saw him was **about three months ago**. He came on a coyote ugly night, flirted with our other bartender, Darby, but he left shortly after."

\- "You know **you can go to jail for that** , right? You just confessed to a crime." Lucas said as Maya rolled her eyes in disinterest.

"Okay. **I don't care**."

\- "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where do you think you're going, Bucky McBoingBoing? **The game isn't over**." Maya smirked. "You made your move. But now it's my turn. **Let me reward you again**."

\- " **I** 've got you totally figured out. **S** o... you grew up spending time on Pappy Joe's big farm in Texas. **T** hen when you turned ten, I guess, your father forced you to stop going to the farm and to focus on your studies. **O** h but you didn't like that. **L** ittle Lucas resented his father, turned into an ass himself. **E** ver the controlling ass—Papa Friar, that is—Mama Friar made you move with her after the separation so you wouldn't get into any trouble because you acted out against your dad. **I** ronically, you entered law enforcement in the future after getting kicked out of school for acts of delinquency. **T** hus, the Lucas Friar in front of me was born.

\- " **T** o finish up, your no-nonsense attitude is a result of the lack of control in your own life in your youth. **H** ell, the permanent scowl on your face is an effort to try to mask the fact that you have some deep problems. **E** xcept your abrasive and brusque manner of speaking and difficulty controlling your particularly difficult suspects—aka me—only goes to show you honestly have some pretty bad demons in your past. **E** rgo, your lack of patience and obvious irritability? **N** efarious underlying anger issues you keep pushing further and further down, hoping they'll go away on their own eventually only for them to pop right back in your face. **D** eep down you're terrified of becoming your father and every day that goes by, you slowly realize you're becoming him, a workaholic, jaded, angry, impatient, and _controlling_ man."

 **Isadora Smackle**

\- _Isadora Smackle; 24; Geek squad computer technician. Graduated MIT undergrad magna cum laude at age of twenty. Currently getting Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering. Holds world record for being youngest and fastest person (at age 13) to completely disassemble a desktop computer and reassemble it. **Incredibly technologically gifted.** Known to be good at everything she attempts and does. Straight-laced, uptight, a genius. Evil genius, maybe…?_

\- " **I'll have you know that you're making a mistake**." She huffed, **pushing her glasses up her nose**. "I have studied law for a few years, so I can be my own lawyer."

\- "Okay." Lucas continued. "You came to the exhibit at exactly 5:24 PM. It's been stated by the officer that you took **three successive tours** in a row for the Blue Diamond exhibit—"

\- "Like I said. They were crappy tours. The tour guide was a bumbling idiot who kept messing up her words and took us through some **crazy weird route around the diamond exhibit. At some point, we were even walking through the hallway facing the front of the exhibit and the diamond**. It almost sounded like she was **talking in gibberish or code** or something. There were so many verbal ticks and whoopsies in her speech and I'm pretty sure at some point she was singing. So I had to **take three so I could actually understand the information**."

\- "You also were **sighted taking a lot of pictures of the exhibit**."

\- She **pushed her glasses up her nose with her finger** , curling her lip in disgust. "Perhaps, **if I was an amateur**. Do you really think I would be so dumb as to steal a diamond and **put _my_ whole life in jeopardy? That kind of thrill in burglary isn't for me. If I wanted to steal a diamond, I would get some actual thief to do it** , thank you very much. And I wouldn't be so dumb as to make a **faulty, shoddily done, hasty replica** that has noticeable differences from the original. You insult me."

\- "Alright then. I was hoping I wouldn't have to come to this. But it looks like I'm going to have to change my approach." Lucas glowered at her. "Isadora Smackle. Known **incognito as alter ego** Izzy, the **purple wigged** bassist of a heavy metal rock band called the Elitists. But that's your band's cover. Because the four of you are known in the underground world as Smack because what you do leaves an impact. And what are you? An elite group of technologically skilled **computer hackers** who have been on the FBI's radar for a while due to some interesting fingerprints you once left touching some lower level business databases. We don't consider you a threat at the moment, because you all seem to just be **playing games**. It's nothing serious right now. But who knows? You all could very well decide you want to hack a government database one day. Maybe it's time to investigate you guys. Put a stop to things before they get bad. Who knows what incriminating things we could find? …Things that could send you to prison."

\- "You're _really_ good." She let out a long sigh. "Well since you clearly know my secret, then I might as well let the cat out of the bag. The Elitists **secured a gig at a bar three months ago**. It was our first show after about a year of hiatus. So obviously, I hadn't practiced any of our set due to work. The day of our gig, since I spent my morning working and then spent the early evening at the museum, I needed some time to remember the songs."

\- " **I'm bored.** **Science was too easy** growing up, and I wanted to tackle other projects. Like I said: become a well-rounded person to conquer the world. So I tried out technology for college and tried out music and surprisingly, they coincided and music was a perfect cover for my hacking that before I knew it in the past, I was in high demand to hack motion sensors and tamper with lasers and alarm systems. Maybe take a file or two."

\- "That's none of your business." She said frankly, "The point is, I did it. Because it was just that easy. For the other guys in my group—people who used to be in my debate team in high school—it doesn't come as easily to them. Plus, it doesn't help that we don't have much upgraded equipment to practice with. But it does come easy to me. **And the challenge to improve and get much better gives me a thrill**. And so sometimes I hack."

\- She scoffed, **pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose with two fingers**. "No. Like I said, **I was practicing my bass**. I left the museum at 7:00 and then I headed straight to our practice studio where we do our hacking and programming—the basement of one of my member's childhood homes—so we could rehearse before the show in four hours. But it quickly became apparent that I was rusty and not ready to rehearse with them, **so at 8:00, I went in a private practice room, one of the bedrooms. Around 10:30, I was done.** We left and went to our show."

\- "No, but **they could hear bass playing."**

\- " **I was in there the whole time."** She rolled her eyes, **pushing up her glasses on her nose**. "But I get it. It's your job to suspect, and there's no concrete evidence."

 **Final Remarks**

\- Farkle nodded. "While you were talking to her, I got someone to contact her band members. What she said checked out. They said **they heard her playing bass the whole time**. She took a **short break around 10:05 for a few minutes** and then recommenced until 10:30. And it showed because apparently the gig was a huge success. But no actually saw her practicing, so there's still a hole."


	8. What Actually Happened

**Hope you guys had fun with this story! I had a lot of fun writing it! Thank you for your participation and all the lovely reviews! You guys are awesome! xD**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but damn these characters are so much fun to play with! ^_^**

* * *

~ _T minus 87 days to exhibit_ ~

"Missy." Mel, her boss, called out as Missy powerwalked through her office in a rush to collect information for her article. "You got my memo about the call from Madeleine Porter about her new exhibit? Some Blue Diamond discovered in Arizona or something. I directed her to your number."

Missy paused on her way out. "I saw the memo. You want me to call her back?"

"Not yet." Mel responded, reviewing an article, "Don't schedule an appointment with her until she calls at least three more times."

"Will do." Missy said, sighing.

Yet another stuffy, boring article to write about something in the museum that more than half the population wouldn't give a rat's ass about. She needed to think of something interesting to write about, otherwise she would just about die of boredom.

Missy took the elevator down to the lobby, walking briskly out of The Vendetta's office building while tugging on her coat. She had ten minutes to get to Starbucks, grab her mocha frap and then forty-five minutes to get downtown, check out a public park that had been renovated and then it was down to the pier for a saltwater fishing lesson to include in the next publication then back to her office to type up the articles and finish up for the day. She was already two minutes behind her schedule and it would simply be inconceivable if she diverted any more from her set plan.

As she walked down the sidewalk, a man sauntered by, hands in his pockets, an old, frayed baseball cap partially hooding some of his face.

"Afternoon, miss." He said politely, continuing on his way.

"Good afternoon." Missy said, walking past him, her face completely straight, though she knew she recognized the face of the man, though she couldn't quite place it completely. It would come to her in a minute. It usually always did when she began to recall something she had glanced at only once before.

And then it hit her.

He was Harley Keiner, a man suspected of being involved in numerous heists, particularly jewel heists back in the 90s. He looked a lot different than the image she remembered from a textbook back in high school a handful of years ago, but add twenty something years of age to that image and bingo. But what was he doing in Greenwich Village, the most boring city in the entire world.

 _"You got my memo about the call from Madeleine Porter about her new exhibit? Some Blue Diamond discovered in Arizona or something."_

She paused in her promenade, her brows briefly rising in surprise.

"Oh."

Her lips curved up into a devious smile.

~ _T minus 83 days to exhibit_ ~

Missy meandered through the park, pretending to just be an idle walker without any real purpose as she carefully scouted the area. She'd found Harley Keiner's number through extensive research and had left him a cryptic message as his "girlfriend" that they needed to talk. He had told her a time and which park, but it was up to her to figure it out now.

As she looked around, she caught sight of an older man hunched over, feeding ducks in pond. He was wearing a frayed mahogany baseball cap.

Missy smirked and made her way over, sitting on the park bench behind his, pretending to take a light break from her promenade.

"How'd you get my number?" the man behind her asked.

"I have my sources." Missy said, "Harley Keiner. Thank you for responding to my text. We have much to discuss."

"That'll be for me to determine. What did you have in mind? Some job?"

"You came to investigate some rumours you'd heard about the Blue Diamond coming to the Village, yeah?"

"So what if I had, kiddo? What's it to ya?"

"I propose a game." Missy crossed her legs, daintily resting her hands on top of her knee. "I bet you I can assemble an impromptu team and we can snatch that diamond as amateurs on the day of the exhibit. We get one day to steal it. If we fail to get it, it's all yours."

He was silent for a moment, only the sound of his breathing being heard as he contemplated her offer.

"What's in it for you?"

"You kidding?" she scoffed, haughtily flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Fame at actually pulling off the elaborate heist. A damn good challenge. A chance to shake up the city a bit, bring some excitement. Need I say more?"

"Interesting." He chuckled. "I accept your game."

"Good." Missy said, standing up, deciding any longer sitting there and they might look a little suspicious. "Then I will see you when I have the diamond in my clutches."

"If." He countered.

" _When_." She affirmed confidently. "Have a nice evening."

Missy had gotten a few steps away from the bench when he spoke.

"Hey kid. What's your motivation?"

She shrugged, momentarily glancing at him over her shoulder.

"Nothing. I'm just perpetually bored."

Missy continued on her way out of the park, tugging her coat tighter around her as the cold air brought a small bout of shivers through her body. So now she had a game to play. A challenge.

But she would need a team if she was going to pull this plan of hers off. Someone on the inside who had knowledge, someone technical if they were going to get this to work, and finally, someone lithe to snatch the stone.

She had work to do.

~ _T minus 79 days to exhibit_ ~

"It's about time you damned Vendetta people finally answered my call." Madeleine Porter said crossly, her lips pursed and eyes glaring at Missy behind her round, thick rimmed glasses. "If you had just responded from my first call, we could have gotten this out of the way earlier."

Missy rolled her eyes, crossing her legs as she jotted out some concluding notes in her notepad. She'd gotten all the info she needed. Their meeting was just about done. It was high time she left. "So in our phone conversation you also mentioned writing a whole series of articles about the Blue Diamond leading up to the big one on opening day?"

"I'd like one published once a week with advertising and a bit of information added to it as the date approaches. Museums don't get all that much visitation, especially in a city like New York where there's much to do, but I'm hoping with some good publicity we can draw a fairly large crowd."

"It is a diamond, after all." Missy said, closing her notepad, "Well. It's about high time I left. I have a lot of work to do."

The door opened and a long haired, slightly disheveled doe-eyed brunette slinked in, looking a little sheepish. She had a coffee in her hand and the other smoothing down flyaway hairs.

"Sorry I'm late. I finally got your coffee."

"Set it on the table and hurry up and sit down." Porter snapped, glaring at the young woman.

"Who's she?" Missy asked curiously. She didn't look that much younger than her.

"Riley Matthews. She's our resident historian and my personal intern. I'll be too busy to discuss the information with you on the series of articles so you'll be in contact with her since she knows everything I do."

Missy eyed Riley as she carefully made her way around the piles of books on the floor. Everything, huh?

"She does, does she?"

And then Riley tripped as she was setting the coffee on the desk and some of it spilled out of the cup and onto the desk. And some landed on Riley's hand. She yelped in pain and snapped her hand back, blowing on it rapidly.

"You stupid, clumsy, useless dimwitted moron!" Director Porter bellowed, snarling at Riley, "You just spilled coffee on my desk, you imbecile! You're lucky none of my documents were on my desk otherwise your ass would be fired for your transgressions! Well? Don't just stand there! Go get napkins to clean up this mess! And while you're at it, show Miss Bradford out, you dumbass!"

"Of course, Madeleine. Sorry about that."

Riley smiled wide and unassuming, her eyes bright and seemingly unaffected. But Missy glanced down where Riley was cradling her burned shaking hand to her chest. Her fist was clenched tightly, veins visible on her skin.

 _Interesting_.

Missy stood up and followed Riley as she walked her through the halls out of the office and back towards the front of the museum. Riley was pretty tall, wiry with a slim figure. She looked like the kind of person who would always remain bright and bubbly no matter what got thrown her way. Which only intrigued Missy all the more since Director Porter had all but torn her down.

"So. How's work life for you?" Missy said, carefully watching Riley's expression, "You enjoy it?"

"Anything can be made brighter by smiling." Riley said, sounding like a robot on autopilot.

"She yells at you a lot, huh." Missy pressed, her grin turning a bit devious. "Are you usually clumsy?"

Riley's smile turned a little tight. "There is no problem, Miss Bradford."

And that was all Missy needed to know.

"Please. I'm probably not much older than you. Call me Missy. I want us to be friends."

"Alright Missy." Riley's smile was back to the unassuming, wide grin that seemed to be constantly on her face. "That'd be great. I love making new friends."

"Say, you know a lot about this diamond, don't you?"

"Yupp! Everything."

"That's good. _Perfect_. Any chance we could go out for lunch sometime?"

"Yeah, definitely!"

"Great. I'll call you."

~ _T minus 75 days to exhibit opening_ ~

Missy was not having a good day.

The stupid subway had been delayed because of inclement weather and when she'd finally decided to just take a taxi instead, she'd gotten stuck in terrible traffic. She'd ended up leaving the taxi about four blocks away and walking in the snow to the office, only to find out that that system they used for syncing all their computer in the office had been busted by the storm and now Mel had finally decided to upgrade the facilities. So everyone was dismissed early while all the computers were being replaced and installed and the hard drives transferred. But because Missy hadn't known, she'd show up anyway and she'd be damned if she went straight home after all of her struggles to get to the office in the first place.

At least she still looked perfect.

"Missy. Think you could get the technician a bottle of water?" Mel asked, reading her article. "She's been working nonstop for a while."

"She's? It's just one technician doing all the computers? Is she some super genius or something?"

"One of their best. Apparently graduated from MIT magna cum."

A slow smile grew on Missy's face.

"I'd be happy to take her the water."

Missy grabbed it from Mel's mini fridge and sauntered out of her boss's office, heading over to the main cubicles where a short, dark haired woman was pushing her glasses up her nose, typing on one of the newly set up computers. Missy set the water bottle on the desk and the woman eyed it before straightening and glancing at Missy with narrowed eyes.

"I asked for sparkling water. Not this bathtub, sewage garbage."

 _Prickly. I like her._

"You seem to know what you're doing quite well." Missy ignored her statement. "They only sent you to do this big job for our entire office? We have about five floors, you know."

"This is amateur." She said, rolling her eyes and uncapping the water to take a swig.

"I'll bet. So what's an MIT grad doing fixing computers?"

"Something to do I guess. Do whatever technical stuff anyone needs me to do."

"Is everything too easy?"

"Always. There's never a challenge."

Missy beamed.

"What's your name?"

"Smackle. Isadora Smackle."

"I'm Missy Bradford. Nice to meet you."

Smackle said nothing in response, only taking another swig of the water, her face wrinkled in distaste at the taste of the water.

"Hey, I like you a lot. I want us to be friends. Any chance we could go out for lunch sometime?"

She eyed her warily. "What day?"

"That's to be determined."

"…I guess I could deign to entertain you."

"Great. I'll call you."

~ _T minus 67 days to exhibit opening_ ~

As much as Missy hated going to Filthy Kitty on Coyote Ugly special nights, she knew as one of the city's hottest spots for young adult males and females alike, it was a necessity. Plus, she had to put out an article on best bars in the city every once in a while, even if it meant having to go to the somewhat seedy places.

At least the drinks were top notch every time she'd been there. If anything, despite the scantily clad bartenders on this particular night, the bartenders always knew what they were doing.

But she wasn't usually a fan of the girls dancing on tables. A lot of them were pretty uncoordinated. A little too choppy. No fluidity in any of their motions. Especially since they didn't seem to have a lot of balance.

Except for this time.

There was one blonde who definitely stood out. A short, curvy blonde in tight leather dancing on one of the high tables. One wouldn't think there was anything different about her from the other girls on similar tables, except that she was unbelievably graceful and lithe, despite how aggressive and sensual the dance movements were.

Then one guy jolted the table too roughly in his cheering, to the point that it tipped sideways, but instead of flailing, one, she didn't lose her balance or react at all, and two, she executed a perfect back flip off of the table into a back hand spring into a round off before coming to a graceful stop on someone's lap to wild cheers of 'Foxy' from the crowd.

Missy's eyebrows lifted. Then a slow smile crept on her face.

She bided her time until the blonde's performance was finished and she swapped out with someone at the counter before she made her approach.

"You're Foxy, right?" she asked, sitting in a stool across from her.

"The name's _Maya Hart_. Foxy is obviously a stage name." The blonde drawled, tying a small apron around her waist. "It's not often that you see women here on Coyote Ugly night."

"How's bartending life for you?"

Maya shrugged. "I make drinks for a living. What do you think?"

"I saw some of your moves. They were pretty intense."

"Gymnastics."

"I figured." Missy smiled. "I took lessons once upon a time, although I quit young. Wasn't for me…"

"That so…" Maya said with very little interest, wiping the counter down with a rag.

"How long have you been bartending?"

"Four years. Look." She said crossly, planting a hand on her cocked hip, "You gonna order anything any time soon? I've got a damn job to do."

"I like you. I want us to be friends. Any chance we could go out for lunch tomorrow?"

"Not interested." Maya snorted derisively. "I don't want your friendship."

"I figured you would say that." Missy smirked. "What if I told you I had something interesting to say?"

"I'd give you a quarter and tell you to use that payphone behind you to call and tell someone who actually gives a crap."

"And then I'd tell you that it involves your particular athletic… _skills_." Missy responded, undeterred by her snark, "What would you say?"

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she contemplated her.

"…I'd say I was mildly intrigued. I'd say it depends on the _skills_ in question."

"I'd say come to lunch and find out."

Maya smirked, looking amused. "Fine. I'll meet you for lunch."

"Great. I'll call you."

~ _T minus 66 days to museum opening_ ~

"You all might be pretty confused why we're all here. You don't know each other, but I know you and I want you to join me."

The other three women sitting at the table of the bistro stared at her and at each other in confusion, probably wondering what was going on. Missy smiled, pulling out her trusty notepad and flipping to a page.

"I'm Missy Bradford, journalist extraordinaire. I did some pretty intense research on you. Riley Matthews, regularly steals historical books from your campus' library, refurbishes them, and then returns them. Isadora Smackle, computer hacker who's well known as Smack in the underground world because your hacking and bugging skills will smack someone so hard in the face they'll see stars, and Maya Hart, ex gymnast and thief."

There was a moment when they all stared at her with eyes wide in shock and then Smackle scoffed, grabbing her coat and scarf and shooting up from her seat. Riley did the same, only her expression was more terrified.

Maya glared at her. "This is your idea of lunch? Calling us out here and acting like some stalker creep? I knew you were one battery short of a working flashlight when we met. I'm outta here."

"Me too." Smackle said in disgust, "I should have known not to accept your stupid lunch offer."

"And I just don't feel comfortable in this situation at all…" Riley said meekly.

They all began to start to leave, but Missy started laughing, loud and merrily, slapping the table at their reactions. The other three turned and stared at her, slight unease in all their expressions.

"That's fine. You all can leave before knowing what I have to say." Missy said with a mischievous grin, "But don't you want to know why I even brought you all here? We're four people with four completely different lives. Yet we have one thing in common: we're bored. We're fed up. We're tired of the mundane. We want to spice up our lives."

Missy knew she had them. She had their undivided attentions. She could see it in their eyes, the spark of interest no matter how they tried to tamper it down.

"Aren't you curious? Don't you want to play the game?"

With a slight smirk, Maya pulled her chair back out and sat down. "I do love a good game…"

It didn't take long for the other two to join her, similar enthralled looks on their faces.

"You intrigue me." Smackle said, "Do go on."

Riley eyebrows were still knit in slight worry, but Missy knew she would come around after this.

"I have a plan, but it's going to involve all of us and with a stroke of luck and some genius, we can pull it off." Missy said with a grin. "We'll need a replica, a bug for cameras, a burglar, and a lot of forethought and plotting if we want to make this work. I need all of you to join me."

They stared at her, waiting for her to explain.

"How would you guys like to steal a Blue Diamond?"

~ _The Preparation_ ~

Missy: learns how to play electric bass, learns about diamond from Riley and writes most of the article, saves the draft

Maya: reconnects with Brandon, gets him a date with Riley in exchange for creating the replica, proposes live entertainment night for Filthy Kitty, gets Elitist gig

Riley: shows where employee uniforms are stored, where security room is located for Smackle, lists Dana Ferry on security form for 9:00 to 10:00 shift, explains to Missy where lasers come out from in main exhibit room

Smackle: creates bug that can self-destruct after an extended period of time

~ _The Heist_ ~

8 AM: Riley arrives at museum for work

8:15 AM: Diamond arrives as scheduled

8:30 AM: Blue Diamond exhibit is set up

9 AM: Museum opens to spectators; Officer McMillan stationed near Blue Diamond to guard it

10 AM: Riley begins tours; Riley uses tours to figure out exactly which cameras are directly or indirectly facing diamond, alters routes of tours for that specific purpose

12:57 PM: Maya shows up at museum with art class

1 PM: Maya's class takes tour

1:08 PM: Maya sneaks away from tour to sketch 3D life size diamond for exact measurements and proportions for Brandon to make replica

1:15 PM: Missy calls "Harvey" as his "girlfriend", convinces him to meet at Filthy Kitty

1:27 PM: Maya goes to bathroom, leaves notepad, rejoins the end of her tour

1:28 PM: Missy finishes phone call, enters museum

1:30 PM: Missy takes tour for information about tour to put in her article; Maya's class leaves

2 PM: Riley goes to café nearby for lunch break; Missy walks up and down several floors, mapping out vents, determines most efficient path for Maya to get to diamond from exit of vent, paces in front of diamond to figure out minimal steps

2:23 PM: Missy goes to bathroom, picks up Maya's discarded notepad with sketch of diamond

2:27 PM: Missy goes back and scrutinizes diamond to be a suspect

2:40 PM Missy leaves museum and goes to café nearby; draws vent layout in notepad

2:45 PM: Riley "accidentally" trips and knocks down all of Missy's papers, picks up Maya's notepad as she leaves

2:50 PM: Riley "accidentally" trips and runs into Brandon as she leaves café and knocks down his stuff, a notepad identical to Maya's, swaps notepads with him while picking it, heads back to work

3 PM: Riley returns to work; Missy leaves café, heads to The Vendetta's office building

5 PM: Maya finishes her classes for the day, goes to Brandon to pick up the replica, her notepad with the route, memorizes Missy's route notes.

5:24 PM: Smackle arrives at museum

5:30 PM: Smackle takes tour, takes pictures of every security camera, alignment; Riley points out security cameras in the tour through gibberish code and verbal ticks for the more hidden cameras

6 PM: Smackle takes tour; Riley changes route of tour to show Smackle more cameras

6:30 PM: Smackle takes tour; Riley gives final tour, changes route to show Smackle more cameras

7 PM: Smackle leaves to rehearse for gig; tours are finished

7:30 PM: Exhibits close; spectators cleared from museum; Riley gets dinner in employee room; Smackle rehearses with band

7:45 PM: Interns dismissed

7:54 PM: Maya shows up at Filthy Kitty for work

8:00 PM: Officer McMillan, Riley, Madeleine Porter begin final rounds and lock up procedures; Missy leaves her boss' office, heads to Elitist practice location; Smackle goes in private practice room

8:30 PM: Missy arrives in private practice room, takes over playing bass; Smackle leaves to head to museum

8:55 PM: Riley "accidentally" trips Porter, knocks down stuff in her hands, security cameras and alarm all go off; Smackle sneaks in, head to locker room, disguises herself as Dana Ferry; Riley sneak picks up keys as she helps clean up stuff, "checks" diamond by slightly opening case of exhibit

9:00 PM: Alarm systems back on, Blue Diamond case not activated; Riley sneaks keys back into pile of fallen stuff as Porter picks up the rest of the stuff

9:05 PM: Final rounds are done; Officer McMillan switches with Officer Ferry (Smackle); Riley leaves to take her exam; Madeleine Porter leaves to go home

9:12 PM: Maya asks if she can go to the bathroom, leaves out window, runs to museum

9:20 PM: Riley gets to exam

9:23 PM: Maya scales museum wall through the fire escape, climbs into vents from roof, follows Missy's vent path way to the stone

9:24 PM: Smackle plants the bug, glitch on screen

9:27 PM: Maya Hart crawls through the vents to exhibit hall, uses Missy's precise calculations, executes the perfect routine to the case, avoids lasers

9:30 PM: Maya grabs the diamond, replaces it with the replica

9:33 PM: Maya escapes unscathed back through vents

9:37 PM: Maya climbs down fire escape of museum, runs back to Filthy Kitty

9:47 PM: Maya returns to Filthy Kitty's bathroom

9:50 PM: Maya returns to counter to bartend

10 PM: Smackle is relieved by Officer North, leaves, goes back to Elitist practice room

10:05 PM: Missy stops playing bass momentarily to send prewritten draft of article

10:08 PM: Riley gets coffee at Starbucks with Sarah

10:18 PM: Riley enters her apartment

10:30 PM: Smackle arrives at private practice room; Smackle heads to Filthy Kitty with her band; Smackle's bug self-destructs and leaves no residue; Missy leaves Elitist private practice room, heads to Filthy Kitty

10:45 PM: Officer North discovers open diamond case; Riley leaves her apartment, heads to Filthy Kitty

10:56 PM: Madeleine arrives, sees the crappy replica, alerts authorities

11 PM: Filthy Kitty has Elitist show; Riley arrives at Filthy Kitty with Sarah; Missy arrives at Filthy Kitty

11:10 PM: Missy buys drink from Maya who puts diamond in glass

11:15 PM: Harley arrives; Missy goes to bathroom

11:18 PM: Harley goes to the bathroom

11:20 PM: Missy talks to Harley, proves they stole it

11:23 PM Harley leaves impressed

11:25 PM: The girls all have a celebratory shot at the bar and wait for the inevitable arresting


End file.
